.^H.'' 


HOLY  OAYS 


\j\  I 


10 


^d^  /^  Qt 


THE  HOLY  DAYS  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


me  ^xaim  ®^ee,  #  ©o^* 


THE 


HOLY  DAYS  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


MRS.    MARY    E.    BRADLEY 


^Oh  say  not,  dream  not,  heavenly  notes 

To  childish  ears  are  vain. 
That  the  young  mind  at  random  floats. 

And  cannot  reach  the  strain. 
Dim  or  unheard  the  words  may  fall. 

And  yet  the  heaven-taught  mind 
May  learn  the  sacred  air,  and  all 

The  harmony  unwind." 


NEW    YORK: 

^eit.  ^rof.  (!fpistopal  ^irttbag  ^t^iaol  Winmx  Hub 
Cl^itrclj  '§Dok  ^otutg, 

762  BROADWAY. 
1861. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress  in  tlie  year  1860, 

By  tlie  Genekai.  Protestant  Episcopal  Sunday  Sonooi, 

Union  and  Church  Book  Society, 

in  the  Clerk's  office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States,  for  the 

Southern  District  of  New  York. 


O.  A.  ALVORD,  ELEOTROTYPEK   AND    PRINTER,  15  V  ANDEWATER  ST.,  N. 


PUBLISHED 


^fnrl)cr  of  'Srac?  ©JfiHrrb  ^^mtiap  §:cf)t}d, 


PROVIpEXCK.  HHODB  ISLAND, 


IN  ilEUOEY  OF 


A    LAMB   OF   THE   Fl.OGK, 


WtlO     DIED     JANUARY      15,      1860. 


i" 


PREFACE. 


This  little  hook  is  desis^ned  to  s^ive 
simple  explanations  of  tlie  Holy  Days 
of  tlie  Cliurcli,  adapted  to  cliildren, 
and  to  all^  indeed,  who  ask,  with 
regard  to  them,  "What  mean  ye  by 
this  service?"  The  poetry  and  illus- 
trations are  added  to  make  it  more 
attractive  to  the  young,  but  it  will  be 
found  that  the  former  often  imbodies  in 
a  devotional  form  the  teaching  of  the 
day.  It  is  not  intended  to  take  the 
place  of  the  excellent  works  of  Nelson 
and  Bishop  Hobart  on  the  Festivals 
and  Fasts,  but  to  furnish  a  more  con 
venient  manual  for  children,  parents, 
and  Sunday-school  teachers,  and  for  cir- 
culation by  missionaries. 


CONTENTS. 


Pagf 
THE    CHRISTIAN    YEAR,         .  .  .  .  .11 

THE    lord's    day,  .....  14 

ST.  Andrew's  day,  .         .         .         .         .17 

ADVENT,         . 21 

THE    EMBER    DAYS,  .  .  .  .  .24 

ST.    THOMAS'    DAY,  .....  26 

CHRISTMAS    DAY,         ......       29 

ST.  Stephen's  day,      .....         35 

ST.  JOHN    THE    EVANGELIST,         .             .             .  .38 

THE    HOLY    innocents'  DAY,              ...  42 

THE    CIRCUMCISION,               .             .             .             .  .45 

THE    EPIPHANY,                   .....  47 

SUNDAYS    AFTER    THE    EPIPHANY,         .             .  .50 

THE    CONVERSION    OF    ST.  PAUL,       ...  51 
THE    PRESENTATION    OF  CHRIST    IN    THE    TEMPLE,       54 

ST.  MATTHIAS'  DAY,                .             '             .             .  .57 

THE    ANNUNCIATION,       .....  59 
SEPTUAGESIMA,  SEXAGESIMA,  AND    QUINQUAGES- 

IMA, 62 

ASH-WEDNESDAY    AND    LENT,       .             .             .  .63 

SUNDAYS    IN    LENT,          .....  66 


10 


CONTENTS. 


PALM  SUNDAY, 

WEDNESDAY    BEFORE    EASTER, 

THURSDAY    BEFORE     EASTER,       . 

GOOD    FRIDAY, 

EASTER     EVEN, 

EASTER    DAY, 

SUNDAYS    AFTER    EASTER, 

ST.   mark's    day, 

ST.   PHILIP  AND   ST.  JAMES'  DAY, 

THE    ROGATION    DAYS, 

ASCENSION    DAY, 

WHITSUN-DAY, 

TRINITY    SUNDAY,       . 

SUNDAYS    AFTER    TRINITY, 

ST.  BARNABAs'  DAY, 

ST.  JOHN    THE    BAPTISt's    DAY, 

ST.  Peter's  day,     . 

ST.  JAMEs'   DAY, 

ST.  Bartholomew's  day, 
ST.  Matthew's  day, 

ST.  MICHAEL    AND    ALL    ANGELS, 

ST.  LUKe's    day, 

ST.  SIMON    AND    ST.  JUDE, 

ALL    SAINTS, 


THE    HOLY    DAYS. 


THE  CHKISTIAN  YEAK. 

^O  the  cliildren  of  the  Church  there  is 
a  special  beauty  and  comfort  in  the 
Church'' s  anniversaries.  Coming  from 
year  to  year  at  their  stated  times,  each 
with  its  A'oice  of  warning  or  bless- 
ing, they  bid  us  pause  awhile  in  the  rush 
and  hurry  of  our  worldly  employments,  to 
give  ear  to  some  tender  memory,  some  solemn 
admonition,  or  some  blessed  example,  and  by 
the  aid  of  its  teaching  conform  our  lives  more 
and  more  to  the  rule  laid  down  by  our  Lord 
and  Saviour — 

"  Be  ye,  therefore,  perfect,  even  as  your 
Father  in  Heaven  is  perfect." 

None  can  tell  how  sweet  and  holy  an  in- 
fluence they  have  exerted  in  all  the  ages 
through  which  they  have  been  handed  down 


12  THE    HOLY    DATS. 

to  US.  How  the  Church's  rejoicings  at  Christ- 
mas, her  solemn  contrition  and  self-abasement 
in  Lent,  her  triumphant  exultation  at  Easter, 
have  thrilled  and  softened  hearts  that  without 
such  aids  and  reminders  would  have  continued 
forever  "  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins ;"  how 
they  have  nerved  and  strengthened  anew  souls 
that  were  fainting,  almost  despairing,  in  their 
weary  struggle  with  "  the  world,  the  flesh,  and 
the  devil." 

We  go  at  Christmas-tide  into  God's  "  holy 
temple,"  and  our  hearts  burn  within  us  as  we 
listen  to  the  heavenly  song  of  "peace  on  earth, 
good  will  to  men."  We  commemorate  His 
manifestation  to  the  Gentiles,  and  give  inward 
thanks  for  our  gracious  calling,  typified  there- 
by. AVe  humble  our  souls  with  fasting  and 
prayer  as  the  time  of  His  great  sorrow  ap- 
proaches. We  follow  Him  to  His  cross  on  the 
awful  day  when  He  ''^was  contented  to  he  be- 
trayed^ and  given  tip  into  the  hands  of  wicked 
menP  We  Avait  at  the  door  of  the  sealed  sep- 
ulchre, trembling  wdth  joyful  hope  of  the 
resurrection.  We  swell  with  glad,  exulting 
voices  the  thrilling  strain,  "  Christ  is  risen 
from  the  dead!"  when  Easter  morning  dawns 
upon  us  in  its  beauty. 

Then,  when  the  happy  days  in  which   the 


THE   CHRISTIAN   YEAR.  13 

disciples  belield  their  Master  once  more,  have 
passed,  we  witness  with  them  His  glorious 
ascension.  At  Whitsnn-tide  we  are  "  with  one 
accord  in  one  place,"  to  give  thanks  for  the 
gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  Comforter  sent  unto 
us  from  the  Father ;  and  soon  again  we  as- 
semble for  the  feast  of  Trinity,  and  adore  our 
Father,  our  Saviour,  our  Comforter,  as  one  God. 

So  the  Church's  year  bears  us  onward  from 
one  j)i*ecious  season  to  another ;  and  so  the 
memory  of  all  these  solemn  mysteries — so 
awful,  so  needful  to  be  remembered ! — is  kept 
alive  in  our  hearts — hearts  that  of  themselves, 
alas !  are  too  prone  to  forget  and  pass  them  by. 

Alas!  too,  that  with  all  the  aids  the  Church 
offers  her  children,  in  thus  providing  stated 
times  and  occasions  when  by  solemn  outward 
ceremony  we  may  recall  the  sacred  scenes  of 
our  Saviour's  presence  amongst  us,  and  culti- 
vate such  tempers  as  shall  fit  us  for  his  second 
coming — so  many  of  us  should  be  heartless 
and  indifferent  still ! 

God  forgive  us  all !  and  help  us  so  to  love 
His  holy  word,  and  so  to  cherish  all  things  that 
may  aid  us  in  the  better  understanding  of  it, 
that  "  His  household,  the  Church,"  may  be 
no  longer  open  to  such  reproach,  but  "  kept 
in  continual  godliness." 
2 


14 


THE    HOLY    DAYS. 


SUNDAY,  OE  THE  LOED'S  DAY. 


UNDAY  is  always  a  feast  in  the  Church 

— that  is,  a  day  of  religions  joy.  As 
every  Friday  through  the  year  reminds 
us  of  the  crucifixion,  so  Sunday  contin- 
ually recalls  the  bright  Easter,  when 
our  Lord  rose  from  the  darkness  of  the 
tomb  to  die  no  more.  Therefore  it  is  called 
the  Lord's  day — the  day  of  all  the  seven 
which  Lie  honored  by  His  resurrection,  and 
which  all  Christians  hallow  with  prayer  and 
praise,  resting  from  common  labor. 


SUNDAY,   OR    THE   LORD  S   DAY.  15 

Sunday  is  not  the  Sabbath.  The  Sabbath 
was  the  seventh  day  of  the  week;  Sunday, 
the  Lord's  day,  is  the  first.  The  Sabbath  cel- 
ebrated God's  rest  from  the  work  of  creation ; 
Sunday  remembers  our  Lord's  resurrection. 
The  Sabbath  was  Jewish ;  the  Lord's  day  is  a 
Christian  festival.  Early  Jewish  Christians 
kept  both  days,  the  seventh  and  the  first ;  and 
writers  of  the  Greek  Church  refer  to  their 
custom  of  assembling  for  worship  on  the  Sab- 
bath and  the  Lord's  day,  meaning  Saturday 
and  Sunday.  Languages  of  Europe  make  the 
same  proper  distinction ;  thus,  Sdhato  in  Ital- 
ian, Sdhado  in  Spanish,  meaning  Sabbath,  is 
the  name  for  Saturday;  and  Domenica  in 
Italian,  Dortxingo  in  Spanish,  meaning  Lord's 
day,  is  the  name  for  Sunday. 

Evangelists  and  apostles,  in  the  I^ew  Testa- 
ment, refer  always  to  the  seventh  day,  Satur- 
day, when  they  speak  of  the  Sabbath  ;  but 
when  they  speak  of  the  chief  occasion  of 
Christians'  meeting  for  the  eucharist,  and  offer- 
tory, and  preaching,  they  call  it,  as  St.  Luke 
in  the  Acts,  and  St.  Paul  to  the  Corinthians, 
"  the  first  day  of  the  week ;"  or,  with  St.  John, 
the  Lord's  day,  for  he  says  in  the  Apocalypse, 
"  I  was  in  the  spirit  on  the  Lord's  day." 

Our  Church  applies  these  names  with  cor- 
rectness and  propriety.     Of  course,  she  would 


16  THE    HOLY    DAYS. 

Hot  alter  the  language  of  Scripture  when  re- 
citing the  commandments  from  the  Old  Testa- 
ment. But  when  she  tells  us,  "keep  holy  the 
Sabbath  day,"  and  "the  Lord  blessed  the 
seventh  day,"  she  instructs  us  to  observe  the 
law  m  its  spirit,  by  making  of  one  day  in  the 
seven  a  special  rest  and  holy  day  of  worship. 
Taught  by  our  Lord's  authority,  through  His 
inspired  apostles,  we  use,  with  "  the  holy 
Church  throughout  all  the  world,"  the  first 
day  instead  of  the  seventh — the  Lord's  day  in- 
stead of  the  Jewish  Sabbath.  And  her  lan- 
guage is  fitly  conformed  to  her  usage  when 
she  refers  to  the  first  day  of  the  week  by  its 
proper  name ;  for  through  all  the  Prayer-book 
it  is  Sunday — the  Sundays  in  Advent,  Sun- 
days after  Epiphany,  Sundays  in  Lent,  Sundays 
after  Easter,  Sundays  after  Trinity.  "  Let  us 
no  longer  sdbhatize^  but  keep  the  day  on  which 
our  Lord  arose." 


ST.    ANDREW  8   DAT. 


17 


ST.   ANDEEWS    DAY. 

(NOVEMBER   30.) 

"One  of  the  two  whicli  heard  John 
speak,  and  followed  Him,  was  Andrew, 
Simon  Peter's  brother."— John  i :  40. 

^HIS  feast  is  placed  at  the  beginning  of 

the   Church's   year, 

because  St.  Andrew 

was  the  first  called 
Qj  to  be  an  apostle,  and 
the  first  to  proclaim  to  others 
the  coming  of  the  Messiah. 
Advent  Sunday  is  always 
the  one  nearest  it,  either  be- 
fore or  after,  and  may  even 
fall  upon  the  same  day.  St. 
Andrew  was  born  in  Beth- 
saida  of  Galilee,  was  a  broth- 
er of  St.  Peter,  and,  like 
him,  a  poor  fisherman  un- 
til both  were  called  by 
our  Lord  to  become  "  fish- 
ers of  men."  Church  history  says  that  after 
2* 


18  THE    HOLY  DAYS. 

our  Saviour's  ascension,  he  preached  the  Gos- 
pel on  the  shores  of  the  Black  Sea,  or  the 
region  now  known  as  the  famous  Crimea,  and 
that  he  was  martyred  at  Patrse,  in  Achaia. 
By  urging  his  converts  there  to  be  stead- 
fast, and  not  return  to  their  old  idolatry, 
he  enraged  the  heathen  magistrate,  who  had 
him  cruelly  scourged  and  then  crucified. 
His  cross  was  shaped  like  an  X — the  Greek 
initial  for  the  name  of  Christ — and  he  was 
bound  to  it  with  cords,  in  order  to  make 
his  death  more  lingering.  We  are  told 
that  he  hung  upon  it  two  days,  exhorting  the 
people ;  and  when  they  besought  the  magis- 
trate to  spare  his  life,  he  prayed  that  God 
would  permit  him  to  die  then,  and  seal  his 
doctrine  with  his  blood ;  and  his  prayer  was 
granted.  His  body  was  embalmed  and 
buried  by  a  noble  lady  named  Maximilla,  and 
was  afterward  removed  to  Constantinople  by 
Constantine,  the  first  Christian  emperor,  who 
there  buried  it  in  a  great  church  he  had  built 
to  the  honor  of  the  apostles. 

St.  Andrew  is  an  example  to  us  not  only  in 
his  constancy,  but  in  his  act  of  bringing  his 
brother  to  Christ.  Let  us  ponder  it  deeply, 
and  urge  ourselves  onward  to  new  labors  of 
love  for  the  souls  that  are  most  dear  to  us.    It 


19 

may  be  but  a  little  while  tliat  we  shall  see 
around  our  firesides  the  faces  that  we  love  best 
in  this  life,  and  bitter  exceedingly  would  be 
the  thought  that  in  another  world  any  one  of 
them  should  be  shut  out  from  our  sight  for- 
ever. All  of  us — even  the  smallest  child  that 
has  learned  its  need  of  a  Saviour — may  do 
something,  if  only  by  a  simple  word  now  and 
then,  the  silent  force  of  a  meek  and  pious  life, 
or  the  loving  prayer  that  God  hears  in  secret 
but  rewards  openly.  Let  us,  then,  do  what 
we  may  while  yet  we  have  time,  and  especially 
at  this  season,  lose  no  opportunity  to  "bring 
unto  Jesus"  some  "brother"  who  has  not  yet 
*'  found  the  Messiah." 

RE  there  for  us  some  brethren  dear, 
Near  to  our  hearts,  but  not  so  near 
To  God,  as  they  should  be  ? 
For  whom  we  know  no  peace  or  rest, 
Until  they  choose  the  thing  that's  best. 
And  Christ's  salvation  see  ? 

Then  let  us  come,  and  one  and  all 
Use  this  glad  Christian  festival 

For  special  prayer  and  praise  ; 
Prayer  for  the  lost  to  be  restored. 
Praise  for  the  loved  ones,  whom  the  Lord 

Hath  brought  unto  His  ways. 


20 


THE   HOLY   DAYS. 


•  And  as  the  rolling  year  brings  round 
The  memory  of  some  lost  one  found, 

Some  loved  one  gone  astray ; 
Still  let  each  household  grief  or  joy, 
Our  hearts'  best  faith  and  love  employ, 

On  each  St.  Andrew's  Dav." 


ADVENT.  21 


ADVENT. 

"  The  niglit  is  far  spent,  the  day  is  at 
hand." — RoMANsxiii:  12. 

S  the  seasons  of  oiir  civil  year  change 
with  the  conrse  of  the  world  around 
^the  central  sun,  so  do  the  Church's 
seasons  wait  upon  Him  who  is  "  the 
Sun  of  Kighteousness. "  First  in  order 
is  Advent,  and  its  name  means  "  coming." 

At  this  time  we  are  not  only  reminded  of 
our  Saviour's  first  coming  "  in  great  humility" 
to  our  sinful  world,  but  more  especially  of 
His  second  appearing  "  in  glorious  Majesty," 
when  "  He  shall  come  to  judge  both  the  quick 
and  the  dead."  During  the  four  Sundays  of 
Advent,  while  we  are  drawing  near  the  Feast 
of  our  Lord's  Nativity,  and  are  bidden  to 
meditate  in  their  turn  the  final  judgment,  the 
sacred  Scriptures,  the  ministry  of  Jesus,  and 
to  "rejoice  in  the  Lord  alway,"  a  voice  of 
warning  sounds  through  them  all,  reminding 
us  that  "now  it  is  high  time  to  awake  out  of 
sleej)."  Tlie  Lord  is  near,  though  hidden 
from  mortal  eyes. 


22  THE    HOLY    DAYS 

Let  US  then  renew  oar  self-examinations 
and  add  fervor  to  our  prayers.  IN^ow  is  the 
time  to  trim  onr  lamps  that  they  be  in  readi- 
ness for  the  Bridegroom's  coming;  to  shake 
off  spiritual  languor  and  heaviness;  to  break 
the  chains  of  evil  habits  that  have  fastened 
upon  us  unaware,  and  drive  out  unholy 
thoughts  that  have  crept,  we  scarce  know  how 
or  when,  into  our  bosoms. 

While  we  prepare  to  keep  the  Feast  of  the 
Saviour's  Birth,  may  we  heed  the  stirring  call 
to  be  ever  watchful,  ever  ready  for  His  second 
Advent,  which  shall  be  proclaimed  with  the 
Trump  of  the  Archangel. 

"  ^MP^^  •  -^^  conies,  in  clouds  descending, 
^  f\   Once  on  earth  for  sinners  slain ; 
0^5    Thousand,  thousand  saints  attending, 
Swell  the  triumph  of  His  train. 
Hallelujah ! 
Jesus  comes  on  earth  to  reign. 

"  Every  eye  shall  now  behold  Him, 
Robed  in  dreadful  majesty  ; 
Those  who  set  at  naught  and  sold  Him, 
Pierced  and  nailed  Him  to  the  tree. 
Deeply  wailing. 
Shall  the  true  Messiah  see. 


ADVENT. 


23 


''  Yet  with  mingled  hope  and  fearing, 
Wait  we  still  our  Judge  to  see ; 
In  the  day  of  Thine  appearing, 
Spotless,  blameless  may  we  be ! 


Ever  watching, 


Teach  us,  Lord,  to  welcome  Thee." 


24 


THE    HOLY    DAYS. 


EMBEE    DAYS. 

"  Know  tliem  wliicli  are  over  you  in  the 
Lord." — Thess.  iv:  12. 


HERE  are  certain  days  set  apart  for 
fasting  and  prayer,  before  the  ordina- 
tions which  are  performed  in  the 
Chnrch  on  the  following  Sundays. 
In  this  practice  we  copy  the  example 
of  the  apostles,  who  prayed  and  fasted  be- 
fore laying  their  hands  on  those  sej)arated  for 
the  w^ork  of  the  ministry. 

The  Ember  days  occur  at  four  seasons  of 
the  year,  being  the  Wednesday,  Friday,  and 
Saturday  after  the  first  Sunday  in  Lent,  after 
Whitsun-day,  after  the  fourteenth  of  Septem- 
ber, and  after   the   thirteenth  of  December. 


EISEBEE    DAYS. 


25 


It  is  proper  that  deacons  and  priests  should  be 
ordained  on  the  Sundays  immediately  follow- 
ing these  Ember  fasts. 

Let  us  all  at  such  times  earnestly  pray  for 
our  bishops  and  pastors. 


ND,  at  each  solemn  Ember-tide, 

When  those  who  rule  God's  Church, 
accord 

The  lot  they  cast,  but  cannot  guide. 
For  its  disposal  to  the  Lord  ; 


"  Let  us  their  consecrating  hands 

With  fervent  faith  sustain  on  high, 
And  o'er  the  kneeling,  white-robed  bands 
Thus  help  to  guide  them  wiUingly." 
3 


26 


THE    HOLY    DAYS. 


ST.   THOMAS'    DAY. 

(DECEMBER  21.) 

"  Then  saitli  He  to  Thomas,  Reach 
hither  thy  finger,  and  behold  my  hands. 
.  .  .  And  be  not  faithless,  ])iit  believ- 
ing. And  Thomas  answered  and  said 
unto  Him,  My  Lord  and  my  God." — St. 
John  xx  :  27,  28. 


HE  name  of  St.  Thom- 
as has  been  handed 
down  to  ns  as  that  of 
the  doubting  apostle. 
When  the  rest  of  the 
apostles  assured  him  of  our 
Saviour's  resurrection,  lie  re- 
fused to  believe  until  his  own 
eyes  had  seen,  and  his  own 
hands  touched  Him.  Our 
Lord  then,  pitying  his  weak- 
ness, and  wdllins:  to  silence 
his  doubts  forever,  appeared 
again  to  His  disciples  w^lien 
Thomas  was  with  them,  and 
quickly  convinced  him  of  the 
blissful  certainty. 

This  act  of  unbelief  on  the 


,^Y*^v\i'Ai  >, 


2T 

part  of  St.  Tliomas  has  an  advantage  for  ns, 
inasmucli  as  it  confirms  our  faitli  in  our 
Saviour's  resurrection,  'and  assures  us  most 
truly  that  He  rose  again  in  the  very  same 
body  in  whicli  He  suffered  death.  Thus  we 
see  how  out  of  evil  God  can  draw  good,  and 
make  even  the  falls  and  faults  of  His  saints 
the  means  of  safety  and  life  to  others. 

After  the  ascension  he  preached  the  Gospel 
in  Parthia,  and  some  of  the  ancients  tell  how  he 
met  with  the  Magi,  countrymen  of  those  wise 
men  who  came  from  afar  to  worship  the  new- 
born Saviour.  He  baptized  several  of  them, 
and  made  use  of  them  as  assistants  in  his  min- 
istry. After  whicli  he  passed  through  Ethi- 
opia, and  at  last  came  to  India  ;  where,  after 
having  made  many  converts,  he  was  mur- 
dered by  the  soldiers  one  day,  while  praying 
outside  of  the  city  of  Melapore.  His  body 
was  buried  by  his  disciples  in  a  church 
which  he  had  caused  to  be  built  in  the  same 
city. 

OUBTING  soul,  lay  down  thy  fears, 

For  the  Lord  is  nigh  thee ; 
Joy  for  sadness,  smiles  for  tears, 
Jesus  will  supply  thee. 


28  THE    HOLY    DAYS. 

''  Plead  not  reason's  poor  pretence, 
Trust  what  God  hath  told  thee ; 
Lean  not  on  thine  erring  sense 
When  His  arms  infold  thee. 

"  Thou  would' st  with  thine  eyes  behold 
What  thy  soul  desireth ; 
Thou  would' st  to  thine  ears  have  told 
What  thy  sense  requireth. 

"  Faith,  inured  to  harder  tasks, 
In  submission  kneeleth, 
Nor  with  doubting  Thomas  asks 
More  than  God  revealeth." 


CHRISTMAS   DAY.  29 


CHRISTMAS    DAY. 

(DECEMBER  25.) 

"  Unto  you  is  born  this  day,  in  tlie  city 
of  David,  a  Saviour,  whieli  is  Christ  the 
Lord." — Luke  ii:  11. 

0-DAY  we  celebrate  the  IS'ativity,  or 
Birth  of  Christ.  It  is  a  day  of  glad- 
ness and  rejoicing,  since  the  Incarna- 
tion of  the  Son  of  God,  or  "  the  Word 
made  flesh,"  is  the  most  snblime  mys- 
tery of  our  redemption,  and  the  source  of  all 
our  blessings.  Although  any  day  set  apart 
by  the  Church  for  special  commemoration 
claims  our  thankful  observance,  yet  this  one 
we  honor  as  in  very  deed  the  birth-day  of  our 
Lord. 

It   was   kept   in   the    earliest    ages   of   the 
Church,  for  we  may  be  sure  the  exact  day 
would  never  be  forgotten  by  the  first  Chris- 
tians, or  their  descendants. 
3^ 


CHRISTMAS    DAY.  31 

The  beloved  St.  John,  who  took  home  the 
mother  of  our  Lord,  would  doubtless  tell  it  to 
his  disciples  as  learned  from  her  own  lips. 
Moreover,  the  birth  of  our  Saviour  occurred 
at  the  time  of  the  taxation  or  enrolment  of 
all  the  world  under  the  decree  of  the  Roman 
emperor  Caesar  Augustus,  as  you  may  read  in 
the  second  chapter  of  St.  Luke.  It  was  there- 
fore duly  registered  in  the  public  records, 
kept  in  the  city  of  Rome,  and  being  connected 
with  this  great  census  could  easily  be  found 
at  any  time. 

These  records  were  not  destroyed  until  the 
end  of  the  fourth  century,  when  Rome  was 
sacked  by  the  Goths,  and  the  Christian  re- 
ligion had  been  for  one  hundred  years  the 
established  faith  of  the  empire. 

Early  writers  refer  to  them  in  this  manner : 
"  Finally  concerning  the  census  (or  enrolment) 
of  Augustus,  which  the  Roman  archives  pre- 
serve as  a  faithful  witness  of  the  Lord's 
Nativity." 

St.  Augustine,  who  was  fifty-six  years  old 
at  the  time  of  the  invasion  of  the  Goths,  has 
left  thirteen  Christmas  sermons,  preached  by 
him  on  the  25th  of  December,  in  which  he 
says  that  it  was  our  Lord's  birth-day,  without 
any  attempt   to   prove  it;,    as   though   proof 


32  THE  HOLY   DAYS. 

was  unnecessaiy,  because  the  fact  was  well 
known. 

Before  the  custom  of  its  observance  had  be- 
come general  throughout  the  entire  Churcli, 
St.  Chrysostom  says  in  a  sermon  preached 
A.  D.  386 :  "  It  is  lawful  for  any  one  who 
wishes  to  know  accurately,  to  search  the  an- 
cient records  publicly  deposited  in  Rome, 
and  there  learn  the  time  of  that  enrolment ;" 
"  we  have  received  this  day  from  those  who 
have  tarried  there,  having  celebrated  it  from 
the  beginning."  From  the  days  of  these  emi- 
nent bishops  until  the  present  time,  we  know 
that  it  has  been  thus  kept  by  the  great  body 
of  the  Church  Universal. 

When  this  day  of  all  days  dawns  upon  the 
earth,  the  Christian  world  to  its  furthest  limit 
sends  upward  the  glad  song  of  praise,  "  Glory 
to  God  in  the  highest !"  Friends  and  brothers 
meet  together,  and  good  wishes  and  congratu- 
lations pass  from  heart  to  heart;  the  children 
greet  one  another  with  loving  words  and 
happy  faces ;  gifts  of  affection  are  inter- 
changed, and  the  Christmas  fires  glow  warm 
and  bright  as  the  happy  household  groups 
cluster  about  them.  Even  the  faces  of  the 
poor  and  sorrowful  shine  for  a  while  with  the 
universal  joy ;  for  now  is  the  time  when  all 


CHRISTMAS   DAY.  33 

who  love  tlieir  Lord  will  especially  remember 
His  poor  children,  and  gladly  distribute  to 
their  necessities.  Christ  has  come  to  bring 
pardon  and  peace  to  lis,  and  we  in  turn  should 
extend  love,  and  kindness,  and  forgiveness  to 
all  who  have  done  us  wrong.  In  His  holy 
temple,  the  air  is  fragrant  with  the  spicy 
breath  of  woven  wreaths,  and  clustered  boughs 
and  branches  that  loving  hands  have  brought 
to  "  beautify  the  place  of  His  sanctuary ;" 
throngs  of  worshippers  blend  their  voices  in 
prayer  and  praise,  and  the  Holy  Church 
throughout  all  the  world  acknowledges  her 
Lord,  and  does  honor  to  His  birth-day.  May 
it  grow  more  and  more  holy  to  us,  and  each 
succeeding  year  find  our  spirits  more  attuned 
to  its  sacred  joy,  more  meet  to  welcome  Him 
who  is  our  Saviour,  our  Lord,  and  our  King 
forever. 


tNGELS,  from  the  realms  of  glory, 
Wing  your  flight  o'er  all  the  earth, 
^::;;^     Ye  who  sang  creation's  story, 
Now  proclaim  Messiah's  birth ; 

Come  and  worship, 
Worship  Christ,  the  new-born  King. 


M  THE    HOLY    DAYS. 

"  Shepherds  in  the  field  abiding, 

Watching  o'er  your  flocks  by  night, 
God  with  man  is  now  residing — 
Yonder  shines  the  infant  light ; 

Come  and  worship. 
Worship  Christ,  the  new-born  King. 

"  Sages,  leave  your  contemplations, 
Brighter  visions  beam  afar, 
Seek  the  great  Desire  of  nations, 
Ye  have  seen  His  natal  star ; 

Come  and  worship, 
Worship  Christ,  the  new-born  King. 

"  Saints,  before  the  altar  bending. 
Watching  long  in  hope  and  fear, 
Suddenly  the  Lord  descending. 
In  His  temple  shall  appear ; 

Come  and  worship. 
Worship  Christ,  the  new-born  King. 

"  Sinners,  wrung  with  true  repentance, 
Doom'd  for  guilt  to  endless  pains. 
Justice  now  revokes  the  sentence, 
Mercy  calls  you,  break  your  chains ; 

Come  and  worship. 
Worship  Christ,  the  new-born  King." 


ST.    STEPHEN  S    DAY. 


35 


ST.   STEPHEN'S  DAY. 

(DECEMBER  26.) 

"  And  lie  kneeled  down,  and  cried  with 
a  loud  voice,  Lord,  lay  not  this  sin  to 
their  charge  !  and  when  he  had  said  this, 
he  fell  asleep." — Acts  vii:  55. 

E  celebrate  on  this  day  the  festival  of 
St.  Stephen, 
the  first  Mar- 
tyr to  the 
truth  of  Je- 
sns,  and  the  first-named 
of  the  seven  Deacons 
whom  the  Apostles  ap- 
pointed as  the  treasur- 
ers of  the  Church,  to  administer  to  the  necessi- 
ties of  the  poor,  make  provision  for  the  pubhc 
feasts,  and  perform  other  holy  offices  appro- 
priate to  their  rank  as  ministers  of  Christ. 

St.  Stephen,  we  are  told,  was  "  a  man  full 
of  faith  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,"  and  "did 


36  THE   HOLT   DAYS. 

great  wonders  and  miracles  among  the  peo- 
ple." He  was  brought  before  the  council  on 
a  false  charge  of  blasphemy,  and  there  by  his 
fervent  and  fearless  eloquence,  so  enraged  the 
judges,  that  ''  they  ran  upon  him  with  one 
accord,  and  cast  him  out  of  the  city,  and 
stoned  him." 

In  dying  he  imitated  the  example  of  his 
Lord,  to  whom  he  had  been  faithful  unto 
death,  by  praying  for  his  murderers,  and  thus 
proves  to  us  the  possibility  of  obeying,  even 
to  the  letter,  our  Saviour's  command,  "  Love 
your  enemies,  do  good  to  them  that  hate  you, 
pray  for  them  that  despitefully  use  you  and 
persecute  you."  Let  us  rightly  improve  this 
Festival  by  taking  this  holy  lesson  into  our 
hearts,  as  well  as  by  stirring  up  our  minds  to 
emulate  the  earnest  zeal  and  the  lofty  courage 
and  constancy  with  which  St.  Stephen  labored 
and  died  in  his  Master's  cause. 

"  (^'^^ITH  awful  dread  his  murderers  shook, 
As  radiant  and  serene, 
The  lustre  of  his  dying  look 
Was  like  an  angel's  seen, 
Or  Moses'  face  of  paly  light, 

When  down  the  mount  he  trod, 
All  glowing  from  the  glorious  sight 
And  presence  of  his  God. 


ST.    STEPHEN  S  DAY. 


37 


"  To  us  with  all  his  constancy, 

Be  his  rapt  vision  given, 
To  look  above  by  faith  and  see 

Revealnients  bright  of  heaven ; 
And  power  to  speak  our  triumphs  out, 

As  our  last  hour  draws  near, 
While  neither  clouds  of  fear  or  doubt 

Before  our  view  appear." 

4 


THE   HOLY   DATS. 


ST.   JOHN'S  DAY. 

(DECEMBER  27.) 

"Now  tliere  was   leaning   on    Jesus' 
bosom  one  of  His  disciples  wliom  Jesus 

loved." — John  xiii :  23. 


T.   JOHN,    the 

Evangelist,  was 
the  beloved  dis- 
^^i  ciple  of  our 
^  Lord,  the  one 
who  above  all  others 
was  distinguished  by 
His  favor,  and  who 
above  all  others,  per- 
haps, returned  it  with 
a  peculiar  devotion. 
He  leaned  upon  Jesus' 
bosom ;  he  followed 
Him  into  the  high 
priest's  hall  when  all 
the  rest  had  fled,  and 
even  Peter  stood  aloof; 


39 

and  to  him  was  given  by  om*  Saviour  on  the 
cross,  the  precious  charge  of  providing  for 
and  cherishino^  the  virgin  Mother. 

His  ministry  was  exercised  in  Asia  Minor, 
and  probably  in  other  parts  of  the  East.  He 
founded  six  of  the  churches  mentioned  in  the 
Apocalypse,  and  dwelt  chiefly  at  Ephesus, 
where  St.  Paul  had  many  years  before  planted 
the  Church.  From  this  place  he  was  carried  a 
prisoner  to  Rome,  where  by  command  of  the 
Emperor  Domitian  he  was  cast  into  a  cauldron 
of  oil  set  on  fire;  but  by  command  of  One 
greater  than  Domitian,  the  flames  had  no 
power  to  harm  him,  and  he  came  forth  alive. 
The  emperor,  disappointed  and  enraged,  paid 
no  heed  to  the  miracle,  but  ordered  him  to  be 
banished  into  the  island  of  Patmos,  in  the 
Archipelago,  where  he  wrote  his  sublime 
Revelation,  and  instructed  the  inhabitants  in 
the  faith  of  Christ.  He  was  recalled,  after 
some  years,  by  the  Emperor  iSferva,  and  re- 
turned to  Ephesus,  where  he  wrote  his  Gospel 
and  Epistles,  and  governed  the  Chm-ch  until 
the  time  of  Trajan ;  in  the  beginning  of  whose 
reign  he  died. 

The  ministry  of  St.  John  was  peculiarly  a 
ministry  of  love — the  love  to  God  and  our 
neighbor,  which  our  Lord  Himself  declared, 


40  THE   HOLY  DAYS. 

fulfils  all  the  commandments.  "Little  cliil- 
dren,  love  one  another,"  was  his  perpetual  ex- 
hortation, when  age  and  weakness  prevented 
him  from  preaching  any  thing  more.  Shall 
not  we  "little  children"  especially  remember 
this  injunction  on  the  day  which  the  Church 
appoints  for  lionoring  one  whom  the  Master 
so  honored,  and  let  its  gentle  influence  ever 
pervade  our  lives  ? 

His  symbol  is  an  eagle ;  as  if  he  would  soar 
into  the  mysteries  of  Christ's  divine  nature, 
or  bear  on  wings  the  everlasting  Gospel  to  the 
ends  of  the  earth. 


N  my  Saviour's  bosom  leaning, 
Drawing  thence  his  mystic  meaning, 
Hearing  there  the  springs  that  move 
His  unutterable  love. 

"  Waiting,  watching,  ling'ring  near  Him, 
All  fife  long  to  love  and  fear  Him, 
Finding  this  my  best  employ, 
Ceaseless  business,  purest  joy ! 

"  Thus  while  years  away  are  wearing, 
For  the  coming  night  preparing, 
For  the  night,  and  then  the  day, 
When  the  shadows  flee  away. 


ST.    JOHN  S   DAY. 


41 


"  So,  my  soul,  with  each  returning 
Of  this  day,  let  all  my  yearning 
Be,  with  gentle  John  to  rest 
Ever  on  my  Saviour's  breast." 
4* 


4:2  THE    HOLY   DAYS. 


THE  mjNTOCElsrTS'  DAT. 

(DECEMBER  28.) 

"  These  were  redeemed  from  among 
men,  being  tlie  first  fr^uits  unto  God  and 
to  tlie  Lamb." — Revelation  xiv :  4. 


]^  this  festival,  the  Church  lovingly  re- 
members those  little  ones  slain  by  the 
cruel  Herod,  who  were  the  first  martyrs 
for  their  Lord.  For  "  it  hath  been  ob- 
served, that  there  are  three  sorts  of 
martyrdoms  :  the  first  in  will  and  deed,  which 
was  the  case  of  most  of  the  Apostles;  the 
second  in  will,  but  not  in  deed,  Avhich  was  the 
case  of  St.  John  the  Evangelist ;  the  third  in 
deed,  but  not  in  will,  which  was  the  case  of 
the  Holy  Lmocents."  The  Collect  says  that 
they  glorified  God  by  their  deaths,  and  the 


THE    innocents'    DAY.  43 

Revelation  counts  tlieni  amono;  those  blest 
souls  ''  wliicli  follow  the  Lamb  whithersoever 
He  goeth,"  "being  the  first  fruits"  of  His 
redeemed. 

This,  the  Church's  Feast  for  Children,  re- 
minds us  of  their  relations  to  the  kingdom  of 
heaven. 

Since  our  Saviour  said,  "Suffer  them  to 
come  unto  me,"  thej  should  be  made  His  own 
in  Holy  Baptism,  and  trained  for  His  service. 
When  even  those  of  mature  years  would  come 
to  that  sacrament,  they  must  first  "  become  as 
little  children." 

You,  in  your  youth,  who  hear  to-day  the 
touching  story  of  the  infant  martyrs,  may  not 
be  called  as  they  were  to  glorify  God  by  your 
deaths ;  but  each  one  of  you  may  glorify  Him 
as  well  by  a  gentle  and  obedient  life,  by  try- 
ing to  avoid  every  wrong  thing  that  w^ould 
grieve  Him,  and  also  by  loving  and  reverenc- 
ing the  holy  days  and  services  of  His  Church. 


^IjN  Bethlehem  was  heard  a  cry, 
^Jll       Voices  of  wo  and  wailing, 

Whose  mingled  dirge  rose  mournfully 
With  sorrow  unavailing. 


44  THE   HOLY    DAYS. 

'Tis  very  sad  to  bid  farewell 

To  fathers,  sisters,  brothers ; 
But  the  deep  grief,  oh !  who  may  tell, 
That  wrings  bereaved  mothers  ? 

"  To  take  the  stars  away  from  heaven. 

And  leave  it  all  in  sadness ; 
To  take  from  earth  the  bright  flowers  given 

To  lend  it  joy  and  gladness ; 
To  take,  when  all  with  music  rife. 

The  birds  from  out  the  wild- wood ; 
Oh,  such  it  is  to  take  from  life 

Bright,  happy,  laughing  childhood. 

"  But  they  are  now  bright  flowers  above, 

To  Paradise  transplanted. 
And  blooming  in  a  soil  of  love. 

Where  constant  sunshine's  granted. 
Yea,  they  are  blessed  and  radiant  now, 

In  green  and  tranquil  places. 
Eternal  glory  on  their  brow. 

Smiles  ever  on  their  faces." 


THE   CIRCUMCISION   OF   CHRIST.  45 


THE  CIKCUMCISIOlSr   OF   CHKIST. 

(JANUAEY  1.) 

"The  Lord,  tliy  God,  will  circumcise 
thine  heaii:." — ^Deuteronomy  xxx:  6. 

LL  the  world  knows  that  to-daj  is  l^ew 
Year's  Day,  and  all  the  world  will 
celebrate  it  after  some  fashion  or  other, 
because  it  is  the  beginning  of  another 
year  of  man's  busy,  working,  crowded 
The  Clmrcli  of  Christ  calls  her  children 
to  celebrate  it  because  on  this  day  her  Lord 
began  His  saving  work  for  us.  He  submitted 
to  the  rite  of  circumcision  that  He  might  fulfil 
the  law,  and  so  render  a  perfect  obedience  for 
us  :    as  in  his  baptism  and  regard  for  every 


46  THE    HOLY    DAYS. 

duty,  He  sets  us  a  beautiful  example  how  we 
should  "fulfil  all  righteousness." 

Let  us  begin  this  l^ew  Year — ^fuU  of  untold 
trial  and  temptation — with  the  earnest  resolves 
that  the  feast  is  designed  to  call  forth  ;  "  mor- 
tifying the  flesh,"  and  seeking  the  fulfilment 
of  God's  promise,  that  He  will  circumcise  our 
hearts^  that  we  may  live. 


Y  soul !  wouldst  thou  with  happiness 
The  opening  year  begin  ? 
Come  kneel  by  Jesus'  cradle-bed, 
And  count  the  cost  of  sin ! 

"  His  tears  were  wept  to  dry  thine  eyes. 
His  grief  was  for  thy  gain. 
The  octave  of  thy  song  of  joy 
Was  His  first  cry  of  pain. 

"  Thence  let  the  year  its  coloring 
Of  sober  duty  take. 
Rise  up,  go  forth,  do  every  thing 
For  thy  dear  Saviour's  sake." 


THE    EPIPHANY. 


4T 


THE  EPIPHA^^Y. 

(JANUARY  6.) 

"And  lo,  tlie  star  wHcli  they  saw  in 
tlie  east  went  before  tliem  till  it  came 
and  stood  where  the  young  child  was.'' 

— St.  Matthew  ii :   9. 


r^  HIS  feast  is  observed  with  great  pro- 
priety by  the  Church,  and  should  be 
celebrated  with  great  thankfulness  by 
us  Gentiles,  because  on  this  day  (whose 
name  signifies  'inanife station)  the  Sa- 
viour of  the  world  was  made  known  to  the 


48  THE    HOLY    DAYS. 

Gentiles.  A  strange  and  beantiful  star  ap- 
peared to  certain  wise  men  of  the  East,  and 
God  put  it  into  tlieir  hearts  to  follow  the  star 
until  it  led  them  to  the  spot  where  the  Infant 
King  lay ;  showing  thus  that  it  was  His  will 
to  include,  not  only  His  chosen  people  the 
Jews,  but  all  the  nations  of  the  earth,  "even 
to  its  uttermost  parts,"  in  His  great  salvation. 

The  day  is  also  called  Twelfth-day,  as 
it  falls  on  the  twelfth  after  Christmas, 
and  Twelfth-night  is  often  a  time  of  merry- 
making and  gayety.  There  was  an  ancient 
custom  of  preparing  for  this  festival  little 
cakes  of  spice  covered  with  gold,  in  memory 
of  the  gold,  frankincense,  and  myrrh  which 
the  wise  men  presented  to  our  Saviour.  From 
this  came  the  practice  of  malting  the  rich  and 
gayly-ornamented  loaves  which  are  known 
as  Twelfth-night  cakes,  and  which  in  England 
are  everywhere  exhibited  on  this  holiday. 

Gifts  of  gold  were  offered  to  kings,  fumes 
of  burning  incense  rise  to  God  as  prayer,  and 
myrrh  embalmed  the  dead.  So,  by  their  offer- 
ings, the  Magi  own  our  Saviour,  King,  and 
God,  and  Sacrifice.  Let  us,  too,  bring  Him 
our  golden  charity,  the  incense  of  devotion, 
and  the  myrrh  of  self-denial. 


THE    EPIPHANY.  49 

"  C^fO^^^^  time  ago,  a  wondrous  star 
^  h      Led  o'er  a  trackless  way 
C^^   Three  Gentile  sages  from  afar, 
To  where  an  Infant  lay — 

"  In  swaddling  clothes  all  helpless  bound, 
In  poor  and  mean  abode ; 
And  there  in  Him  all  Gentiles  found 
Their  Saviour  and  their  God. 

"Thence  come  all  joy,  all  love,  all  light 
That  gladden  Christian  homes ; 
Our  very  safety  day  and  night 
From  that  one  Dwelling  comes. 

"  Cold,  then,  and  heartless  they  must  be, 
Who  all  these  blessings  share, 
Yet  grudge,  on  Christ's  Epiphany, 
Their  meed  of  praise  and  prayer. 

"  Lord,  keep  us  from  such  sinfulness, 
And  give  us  grace  to  prove. 
How  they,  who  daily  debts  confess. 

Should  render  love  for  love." 
5 


50  THE   HOLY  DATS. 


SUl^DAYS  AFTEE  EPIPHANY. 

S  on  the  feast  of  the  Epiphany  our 
Saviour  was  shown  to  the  Gentiles, 
kings,  and  Magians  from  the  East,  so 
the  Sundays  after  the  Epiphany  serve 
to  manifest  His  glory  further  to  the 
Avorld  by  recounting  His  miracles, 
signs  that  He  is  the  expected  Messiah,  and 
proofs  of.  His  divine  and  wondrous  power. 
The  Gospels  display  His  wisdom  among  the 
doctors,  His  prophecies  to  His  disciples,  or 
His  mighty  deeds  on  land  and  sea ;  now 
changing  water  to  wine  at  Cana,  now  curing 
a  leper  by  a  touch,  a  paralytic  by  a  word, 
or  stilling  the  waves  of  stormy  Gennesaret. 
The  number  of  the  Sundays  after  Epiphany 
varies  from  one  to  six,  in  dependence  on  the 
moveable  feast  of  Easter,  queen  of  festivals. 


TnE   CONYEESION   OF   ST.    PAUL.  51 


THE  COITYEESIOISr  OF  ST.  PAUL. 

(JANUARY  25.) 

"And  suddenly  there  sMned  round 
about  Mm  a  liglit  from  heaven.  And  lie 
fell  to  the  earth." — Acts  ix :  3,  4. 

HIS  feast  is  worthily  placed  next  to 
the  Epiphany,  for  it  commemorates  the 
manifestation  of  Christ  to  one  who  was 
at  first  a  great  persecutor,  and  afterward 
a  great  teacher  and  leader  of  the  Chris- 
It  pleased  the  Lord  to  make  himself 
known  to  Sanl  in  a  wonderful  manner,  at  the 
very  time  when  he  was  breathing  out  threaten- 


tians. 


52  THE   HOLT   DAYS. 

ings  and  slaughter  against  the  disciples.  His 
eyes  were  blinded,  but  his  soul  was  enlight- 
ened ;  and  thenceforth  he  himself  became  will- 
ing to  suffer  all  things,  even  unto  death,  in  be- 
half of  the  Master  whom  he  had  despised, 
and  whose  followers  he  had  pursued  with  such 
cruel  hatred. 

We  may  well  remember  this  event  with 
reverence  and  thankfulness,  since  it  not  only 
proved  so  wonderfully  the  power  of  God,  but 
has  left  such  mighty  and  enduring  results  for 
our  good.  Though  the  last  called,  St.  Paul 
labored  more  abundantly  than  any  of  the 
Apostles,  and  did  more  to  extend  the  Gospel, 
by  planting  churches  "even  to  the  utmost 
bound  of  the  west,"  and  writing  for  their  in- 
struction and  confirmation  epistles  which  shall 
remain  for  the  edification  of  the  Christian 
world,  to  the  end  of  time.  He  has  well  de- 
served by  his  labors  among  heathen  nations 
the  title  of  "  Apostle  to  the  Gentiles."  After 
a  life  of  unexampled  suffering  and  achieve- 
ments, he  was  beheaded  at  Rome  in  a  general 
persecution  of  the  Christians,  under  Nero. 


THE    CONVERSION    OF    ST.    PAUL.  53 

"^^^HOSE  is  that  sword— that  voice  and  eye 
of  flame, 
That  heart  of  inextinguishable  ire  ? 
Who  bears  the  dungeon-keys,  and  bonds,  and 
fire? 
Along  his  dark  and  withering  path  he  came — 
Death  in  his  looks,  and  terror  in  his  name. 
Tempting  the  might  of  Heaven's  Eternal  Sire. 
Lo,  the  Light  shone !  the  sun's  veiled  beams 
expire. 

"  A  Saviour's  self,  a  Saviour's  lips  proclaim ! 
Whose  is  yon  form  stretched  on  the  earth's  cold 
bed, 

With  smitten  soul,  and  tears  of  agony, 
Mourning  the  past  ?   Bowed  is  the  lofty  head — 

Rayless  the  orbs  that  flashed  with  victory. 
Over  the  raging  waves  of  human  will 
The  Saviour's  spirit  walked — and  all  was  stiU !" 

5* 


54  THE   HOLT  DAYS. 


THE  PEESEISTTATION^  OF  CHRIST. 

(FEBRUARY  2.) 

"They  brought  him  to  Jerusalem,  to 
present  him  to  the  Lord." — St.  Luke  ii:  22. 

HIS  is  a  double  festival,  bringing  to 
remembrance  the  presentation  of  the 
Holy  Child  in  the  temple,  according  to 
the  law,  and  also  the  oiferiiig  made  by 
His  mother,  her  purification  being  ac- 
complished. For,  forty  days  after  the  birth 
of  a  son,  the  mother,  if  rich,  offered  a  lamb 
for  a  sacrifice,  or  if  poor,  like  blessed  Mary, 
she  brought  two  turtle-doves,  or  pigeons.  It 
is  called  Candlemas  day  in  England,  from  an 
ancient  practice  of  lighting  candles  in  the 
churches  at  its  celebration,  symbolizing  "  the 
light  to  lighten  the  Gentiles^^  of  whom  Simeon 
spake.  We  learn  from  its  observance  to 
purify  ourselves  both  in  body  and  soul ;  and 
to  practise  that  obedience  which  our  Saviour 


THE   PRESENTATION   OF   CHRIST. 


55 


and   the   blessed  Yirgin  taught  by  their  ex- 
ample. 


^HE  days  of  separation  past, 
ulh     Commanded  by  the  word, 
The  Yirgin  Mary  brings  her  child 
To  offer  to  the  Lord. 


56 


THE    HOLY    DAYS. 


"  More  than  a  mother's  common  joy 

Her  thoughtful  heart  beguiled, 
For  to  her  breast  she  knew  she  prest 

More  than  a  common  child. 

"  The  hope  of  all  the  ends  of  earth 

Then  on  her  bosom  lay, 
Whom  saints  had  sought,  while  prophets  taught 

The  coming  of  His  day." 


ST.    MATTHIAS     BAY. 


67 


ST.  MATTHIAS'  DAY. 

(FEBRUARY  24.) 

"  The  lot  fell  upon  Matthias ;  and  lie 
was  numbered  witli  tlie  eleven  apostles." 
— Acts  i:  26. 


T.  MATTHIAS   was  probably  one    of 

the  seventy  disciples  ^ 

chosen  under  divine 

guidance    to    be   an 

apostle  in  the  place 
of  the  traitor  Judas.  The 
Church  on  this  day  prays 
to  be  preserved  from  false 
apostles,  and  guided  by 
true  and  faithful  pastors. 
Let  us  who  love  the  Church  join  in  the  prayer 
that  those  who  have  received  the  seal  of  their 
ministry  in  direct  and  unbroken  succession 
from  the  hands  of  Christ's  chosen  apostles, 
may  in  no  wise  bring  dishonor  upon  their 
sacred  calling,  but  with  the  same  faith,  love, 
and  zeal,  devote  themselves  to  their  Master's 
service. 


58 


THE   HOLY   DATS. 


ORD,  guard  Thy  holy  spouse,  the  Church, 
From  every  taint  of  sin,  ^ 

Nor  let  a  traitor  Judas  come 
Her  altar  rails  within  ! 


"  Give  to  Thy  ministering  servants  zeal 
To  spend  for  Thee  their  breath. 
And,  like  Matthias,  take  their  cross 
And  follow  Thee  to  death. 

"  Give  them,  like  Thee,  apart  to  kneel 
Upon  the  mount  of  prayer. 
Thence  to  the  world  with  strength  return 
To  labor  and  to  bear." 


SEPTUAGESIMA,  SEXAGESTTVT  A ,  ETC.  59 


SEPTUAGESIMA,  SEXAGESIMA,  AND 
QUESTQUAGESIMA. 

C^^/HESE  Sundays,  meaning  respectively 
Mto)  Seventieth,  Sixtieth,  and  Fiftieth,  com- 
c^S^  i^g  before  Lent,  signify  that  the  first 
of  them  is,  in  round  numbers,  though 
not  exactly,  seventy  days  before  Easter, 
or  the  end  of  Lent,  and  the  next  one  sixty, 
and  the  last  one  fifty,  as  the  beginning  of 
Lent  is  forty  days  before  Easter.  They  begin, 
by  their  solemnities,  to  prepare  our  hearts  and 
minds  for  the  sorrow  and  humiliation  of  the 
great  fast  of  forty  days. 

They  were  observed  as  early  as  the  time  of 
Gregory  the  Great,  about  the  year  of  our 
Lord  600. 


60  THE   HOLY   DAYS. 


THE  a:n"nui^ciation  of  the 

YIKGESr  MAEY. 

(MARCH  25.) 

"  Hail !  thou  tliat  art  liigUy  favored, 
tlie  Lord  is  witli  tliee ;  blessed  art  thou 
among  women." — Luke  i:  28. 

HE  Church  commemorates  to-day  the 
declaration  made  by  the  angel  Gabriel 
to  the  Yirgin  Mary,  that  she  should 
become  the  mother  of  Christ ;  and  also 
remembers  the  incarnation  of  our  Sa- 
viour, who,  being  the  Eternal  Son  of  the 
Father,  was  at  this  time  made  flesli.  Let  us 
pray,  as  the  Collect  for  tlie  day  directs  us,  that 
having  known  the  incarnation  of  our  Lord  by 
the  message  of  an  angel,  we  may  by  faith  in 
His  cross  and  passion  share  in  the  glory  of  His 
resurrection. 


/-^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 


;^„;i5  mi 


62  THE    HOLY  DATS. 

ESIDE  the  poor  man's  humble  door 
His  snowy  wing  the  angel  stayed ; 
And  to  the  peasant's  promised  bride 
He  said,  '  Hail,  highly  favored  maid !' 

"  He  spake  of  God's  mysterious  will. 

While  marvelled  much  the  maiden  mild. 
As  the  rapt  stranger  gladly  poured 
The  wonders  of  her  heaven-sent  Child. 

"  Then  meekly  bowed  the  Virgin's  head. 
As  deep  her  thoughtful  soul  adored : 
'  Be  it  to  me  as  thou  hast  said ; 

Behold  the  handmaid  of  the  Lord.' 

"  Most  loved,  most  favored,  whose  young  arm 
Was  cradle  for  her  Saviour's  rest ; 
Above  all  women  honored  high. 
Above  all  earthly  mothers  blest. 

"  Alas !  that  human  hearts  have  erred, 
Profaning  her  dear  name  with  words 
That  would  have  grieved  her  lowly  heart, 
With  prayers  that  should  be  all  her  Lord's. 

"  We  bless  her  with  a  meeter  love. 

And  think  the  while,  with  awful  praise, 
Who  said,  '  Yea,  rather  blest  are  they 

Who  hear  My  word,  and  choose  My  ways.' " 


LENT. 


63 


LENT. 

ASH-WEDNESDAY. 

"Blow  the  trumpet  in  Zion,  sanctify 
a  fast,  call  a  solemn  assembly." — Joel  ii :  15. 

HE  solemn  fast  of  Lent  takes  its  name 
from  the  season  in  which  it  falls. 
The  meaning  of  the  Saxon  word  is 
sjpmng^  at  which  time  the  Chnrch,  by 
fasting  and  prayer,  makes  her  prepara-- 
tion  for  the  festival  of  Easter.  It  extends 
over  a  period  of  forty  days,  not  coimting  the 
Sundays  which  lie  between;  for  Sunday, 
being  the  day  on  which 
our  Saviour  arose,  is  a 
feast-day  throughout  the 
year.  The  iirst  day  of 
Lent  is  known  as  Ash- 
Wednesday,  and  is  so  called  from  a  custom 
that  prevailed  in  the  ancient  Church  of  put- 
ting ashes  on  the  heads  of  penitents  on  this 
day,  in  token  of  their  humiliation. 

The  observance  of  Lent  as  a  preparation  for 


64  THE   HOLY   DAYS. 

Easter  has  been  handed  down  to  us  from  the 
earliest  ages  of  the  Christian  Church  ;  and 
no  one  who  recalls  the  frequent  exhortations 
of  our  Saviour  to  the  duty  of  fasting,  can 
doubt  the  wisdom  and  benefit  of  such  an  in- 
stitution. For  though  it  is  as  much  a  duty  to 
live  a  holy  life  at  one  time  as  at  another,  yet 
every  one  knows  how  apt  we  are  to  indulge 
ourselves,  how  reluctant  to  cross  our  wishes  or 
appetites,  how  easily  we  put  out  of  our  minds 
and  indefinitely  postpone  the  duties  which 
are  unwelcome  to  our  natural  instincts  and 
self-love.  Therefore  it  is  a  very  wise  and 
happy  provision  of  the  Church  thus  to  set 
aside  stated  seasons  for  recollection  and  repent- 
ance, and  for  special  lessons  in  self-denial, 
when  solemn  ceremonies  and  the  example  of 
others  may,  as  it  were,  compel  us  to  stop  and 
ponder  whether  we  are  going  on  as  we  should 
in  our  Christian  life,  cherishing  our  baptismal 
grace,  remembering  our  confirmation  vows, 
and  keeping  ourselves  "  unspotted  from  the 
world." 

The  Church  does  not  lay  down  any  precise 
rule  for  the  manner  of  our  fasting  during  this 
season,  leaving  it  to  be  governed  by  our  con- 
science and  circumstances.  There  are  many 
who  cannot  fast,  in  the  strict  sense  of  the 


LENT.  65 

word,  abstaining  from  all  food,  and  of  whom 
it  is  not  required;  but  few  who  may  not 
deny  themselves  some  indulgence  of  appe- 
tite, and  dress,  and  amusement,  for  His  sake 
who  spent  these  long  and  lonely  days  in  the 
wilderness,  hungering,  and  burdened  with 
the  weight  of  our  sins. 

May  He  help  us  all  to  follow  the  example 
of  His  patience  and  humility,  that  "when 
Christ,  who  is  our  life,  shall  appear,  then 
shall  we  also  appear  with  Him  in  glory." 

"  ^^t^I^C^^E,  deare  feast  of  Lent ;  who  loves 
(^pFJ  not  thee, 

He  loves  not  temperance  nor  authoritie, 
But  is  composed  of  passion. 
The  Scriptures  bid  us  fast;    the  Church  says 

now: 
Give  to  thy  mother  what  thou  wouldst  allow 
To  ev'ry  corporation. 

"  Yet,  Lord,  instruct  us  to  improve  our  fast 
By  star\ing  sinne,  and  taking  such  repast 

As  may  our  faults  controU : 
That  ev'ry  man  may  reveU  at  his  doore, 
Not  in  his  parlour ;  banqueting  the  poore, 

And  among  those  his  soul." 


Q6 


THE   HOLY   DAYS. 


SUIsTDAYS  m  LENT. 


LTHOIJGH  these  Sundays  occur  in 
the  midst  of  a  season  of  penitence  and 
fasting,  it  should  be  noted  that  the 
Sundays  themselves,  while  in  Lent,  are 
not  a  part  of  Lent.  Our  divine  Lord 
rose  on  the  first  day  of  the  week,  and  His  Res- 
urrection, so  fraught  with  hope  and  blessed 
promise  to  our  souls,  makes  Sunday  ever  a 
day  of  gladness.  It  is  a  shadow  of  the  com- 
ing Easter,  a  glimpse  of  joy  to  gild  our  grief. 
This  season  of  the  Church  is  much  em- 
ployed, and  very  properly,  in  preparing  for 
the  holy  rite  of  Confirmation,  and  also  by 
those  who  have  not  yet  communicated,  in  mak- 
ing themselves  ready,  by  God's  grace,  to  kneel 
with  the  faithful  at  the  Lord's  Supper  on 
Easter  day. 


PALM    SUNDAY. 


67 


PALM  SUNDAY. 


"  On  tlie  next  day  mucli  people  that 
were  come  to  tlie  feast,  when  they  heard 
that  Jesus  was  coming  to  Jerusalem,  took 
branches  of  palm-trees,  and  went  forth  to 
meet  Him,  and  cried  Hosanna." — John 
xii:  12,  13. 


THE   HOLY  DAYS. 

I ALM  SUE'DAY  is  the  beginning  of  the 
Hoi  J  Week,  in  which  our  Saviour  suf- 
fered. Its  name  commemorates  His 
entry  into  Jerusalem,  when  the  multi- 
tude carried  palm-branches,  emblems  of 
victory,  in  their  hands,  and  the  air  was 
filled  with  shouts  in  His  honor  from  the  same 
voices  that  were  so  soon  to  cry :  "  Away  with 
Him  !  crucify  Him !"  They  entered  the  holy 
city  in  triumph,  and  the  children  who  marched 
in  the  procession  chanted  the  Hosanna  to  His 
praise  when  they  reached  the  temple. 

The  whole  week  is  one  of  great  solemnity, 
and  the  Church  calls  her  children  together 
day  by  day  to  hear  the  story  of  His  Passion ; 
that  with  more  and  more  awe,  reverence,  and 
humiliation  we  may  approach  the  final  day 
when  His  great  sorrow  was  crowned,  and  His 
great  sacrifice  completed. 


'OME,  strew  your  garments  in  the  way, 

Your  wreaths  of  palm  triumphant  bring ; 
Fling  wide  thy  gate,  Jerusalem, 
And  welcome  loud  thy  lowly  King ; 
He  comes,  whom  Prophet's  sang  of  old, 
Meek  riding,  as  their  lays  foretold. 


•     PALM   SUNDAY.  60 

But  palms  are  for  the  conqueror, 
In  triumph's  hour  to  deck  his  brow ; 

He  comes  to  shame,  He  comes  to  death. 
For  whom  ye  strew  those  branches  now  ; 

He  comes  to  bear  the  Hebrew's  scorn, 

The  Gentile's  scourge,  and  nail,  and  thorn. 

Lord,  when  Thy  little  children  come 
To  worship  at  Thy  glorious  throne. 

To  praise  their  own  victorious  King, 

Oh !  let  their  thoughts  and  words  be  one ; 

And  make  them  live  in  faith  and  love. 

And  bear  hereafter  palms  above." 


70 


THE   HOLY  DAYS. 


WEDNESDAY  BEFOEE  EASTER. 


'^Ck^.yGs)^  remember  on  Wednesday  liow 
Jndas  betrayed  bis  Master,  as  on 
Friday  we  tbink  on  tbe  Crucifixion. 
Tbe  memory  of  tbe  traitor,  selling 
bis  Lord,  wakes  our  sorrow,  and 
warns  ns  to  w^atcb  our  own  souls  in 

temptation.     Wednesday  is  one  of  tbe  three 

Litany  days  of  eacb  week. 


INCE  one  of  Christ's  own  twelve  on  earth 

Forswore  his  faith,  betrayed  his  trust, 
And  gave  what  whole  worlds  were  not  worth. 
For  some  few  grains  of  silver  dust ; 


How  should  we  watch  our  hearts,  and  mark 
The  first  small  covetous  desire. 

And  quench  the  little  growing  spark. 
That  else  may  kindle  endless  fire !" 


THURSDAY 'BEFORE  EASTER. 


Yl 


THUKSDAY  BEFOKE  EASTER. 

MAUNDY    THURSDAY. 

"  TMs  do  in  remembrance  of  Me." — . 
St.  Luke  xxii:  19. 

PIE  Thursday  before  Easter  is  called 
the  day  of  the  command,  because  on 
c^St/Q  this  day  om'  Saviour  mstituted  the 
Holy  Sacrament  of  His  Supper.  Let 
us  never  turn  away  with  cold  hearts 
from  this  precious  feast,  but  come  to  it  even 
with  fresh  love  and  thankfulness  that  we  are 
allowed  to  "  do  this  in  remembrance  of"  Him 
who  did  every  thing  for  us. 

'^f^WAS  on  that  dark,  that  doleful  night, 
When  powers  of  earth  and  hell  arose 
Against  the  Son  of  God's  deUght, 
And  friends  betrayed  Him  to  His  foes ; 


72  THE   HOLT  DAYS. 

"  Before  the  mournful  scene  began, 

He  took  the  bread,  and  bless' d,  and  brake ; 
What  love  through  all  His  actions  ran ! 
What  wondrous  words  of  grace  He  spake ! 

"  '  This  is  My  body,  broke  for  sin ; 
Receive  and  eat  the  living  food ;' 
Then  took  the  cup,  and  bless'd  the  wine : 
'  This  the  new  covenant  in  My  blood.' 

"  Jesus !    Thy  feast  we  celebrate, 

We  show  Thy  death,  we  sing  Thy  name, 
Till  Thou  return,  and  we  shall  eat 
The  marriage  supper  of  the  Lamb." 


GOOD    FEIDAY.  73 


GOOD  FEIDAY. 

"  And  wlien  they  were  come  to  the 
place  called  Calvary,  tliere  they  crucified 
Him. — Luke  xxiii :  33. 

HIS  day  is  well  called  Good^  since  all 
onr  peace  in  this  world,  and  all  our 
hope  for  another,  rest  upon  the  work 
that  was  this  day  consummated.  It 
is  also  rightly  made  the  most  solemn 
fast-day  of  the  year,  since  it  was  our  disobe- 
dience that  rendered  the  atonement  necessary, 
our  sin  for  which  the  Son  of  God  suffered  at 
this  time  the  long,  lingering  passion  of  the 
Cross. 

We  sometimes  see  in  pictures  and  in  stained 
church  windows  the  symbols  of  our  Saviour's 
7 


74  THE    HOLY   DAYS. 

suffering — the  several  instruments  of  His  tor- 
ture— the  whip  which  scourged  Him,  the 
crown  of  thorns,  the  spikes  and  hammer,  the 
sponge  upon  a  reed,  the  soklier's  spear,  the 
ladder  mounted  to  let  down  the  precious 
corpse.  For  six  hours  He  hung  in  anguish  on 
the  cross.  He  was  nailed  to  it  in  the  morning, 
at  the  third  Jewish  hour,  or  nine  o'clock. 
From  the  sixth  to  the  ninth  hour,  that  is,  with 
us,  from  noon  till  three  o'clock,  when  he  ex- 
pired, darkness  like  a  pall  lay  on  the  land — 
nature,  fueling  for  her  Lord,  uttered  her  signs 
of  grief — and,  as  He  died,  the  earth  shook, 
rocks  hurst,  and  the  temple  veil  was  torn. 

Oh,  how  humhly,  how  penitently,  how  sor- 
rowfully should  we  kneel  hefore  Him  to-day, 
adoring  His  infinite  love,  entreating  His  par- 
don for  the  past  offences  that  have  so  often 
"  crucified  Him  afresh,"  praying  for  a  heart 
to  love  Him  more  who  has  loved  us  so  won- 
derfully ! 

^ESUS!  Gentle  Sufferer!  say, 

How  shall  we,  this  dreadful  day, 
Near  Thee  draw,  and  to  Thee  pray  ? 

We,  whose  sins  with  awful  power, 
Like  a  cloud  did  o'er  Thee  lower, 
In  that  God-excluding  hour ; 


GOOD    FEroAY. 


76 


"  We,  who  still  in  thought  and  deed 
Often  hold  the  bitter  reed 
To  Thee,  in  Thy  time  of  need. 

"  Canst  Thou  pardon  ?  wilt  Thou  pray, 
As  Thou  didst  that  dreadful  day. 
For  those  who  took  Thy  life  away  ? 

"  Yes !    Thy  blood  is  all  my  plea, 
It  was  shed,  and  shed  for  me. 
Therefore  to  Thy  cross  I  flee. 

"  Save  me.  Saviour !  stoop  and  take 
Pity  on  my  soul,  and  make 
This  day  bright,  for  Thy  dear  sake." 


76 


THE   HOLY  DAYS. 


EASTEK  EYEIsT. 

"And  wlien  Joseph  had.  taken  tlie 
body,  lie  wrapped  it  in  a  clean  linen 
cloth,  and  laid  it  in  his  own  new  tomb." 
— St.  Matthew  xxvii :  59,  60. 


r^^^HE  Church  celebrates  to-day  the  gi^eat 
vigil  before  our  Saviour's  resurrection, 
when  He  lay  in  the  grave  and  de- 
scended into  the  state  of  the  dead. 
He  told  the  penitent  thief  on  the  cross, 

"  This  day  shalt  thou  be  with  me  in  Para- 
They  both  then  rested  in  Paradise,  a 


EASTEK   EVEN.  77 

place  of  pleasure,  directly  after  their  painful, 
shameful  death.  But  this  Paradise  is  not 
highest  Heaven,  for  when  Jesus  had  arisen 
from  the  tomb  he  said  to  Mary,  "  Touch  me 
not,  I  have  not  yet  ascended  to  my  Father T 
Indeed,  He  taught  us  that  none  of  the  dead, 
that  "No  man  hath  ascended  up  into  Heaven, 
but  he  that  came  down  from  Heaven,  even 
the  Son  of  Man  which  is  in  Heaven."  All 
the  dead  wait,  then,  in  "their  own  place,"  in 
partial  joy  or  partial  wo,  until  they  rise  at 
the  last  day,  and  are  first  judged  for  their 
good  or  evil  deeds,  before  they  are  assigned 
to  Heaven  or  Hell.  Tliis  intermediate  state, 
this  place  between  death  and  judgment,  is 
known  by  the  several  names,  Sheol  or  Hades, 
Hell,  Abraham's  Bosom,  and  Paradise. 

The  ancient  Church   observed   Easter  Eve 
with  great  pomp  and  '^.   . 

solemnity,     illuminat-  '    *' 

ing  both  the  churches 
and  their  private 
houses  with  multi- 
tudes of  lighted  torch- 
es, and  continuing  their 
vigil  till  midnight  at  least,  and  in  some 
places  till  morning.  It  was  their  custom 
at  this  time  to  baptize  adult  converts,  and 
7* 


78  THE  HOLY   DAYS. 

some  observe  the  custom  still,  bringing 
the  catechumens  who  have  been  prepared 
during  Lent  to  the  font  on  Easter  Eve.  The 
custom  has  a  beautiful  significance  when  we 
remember  how  "  we  are  hiiried  with  Him  hy 
haptism  into  death :  that  like  as  Christ  was 
raised  from  the  dead  hy  the  glory  of  the 
Father^  even  so  we  also  should  walk  in  new- 
ness of  lifeP 

"  (^^"^^-^  ^^^  ^^^  ^^^  over  now ; 

Bring  the  spice  and  bring  the  myrrh, 
Fold  the  limb  and  bind  the  brow, 
In  the  rich  man's  sepulchre ; 
Far  within  the  garden  gloom 
Leave  Him  in  His  new-made  tomb. 

'  We,  till  lights  the  Easter  Heaven, 

With  a  holy  purpose  come, 
Watching  all  this  solemn  even 

By  our  Saviour's  lowly  tomb  , 
Thinking  we  are  buried  too, 
We  must  live  with  him  anew. 

In  the  fresh  Baptismal  tide 

In  our  early  childhood  dim. 
When  our  evil  nature  died, 

We  were  buried  deep  Avith  Him, 
We  must  live  like  men  new-born 
Waiting  for  a  brighter  morn." 


EASTEK    BAY. 


79 


EASTER   DAY. 

"  Wliy  seek  ye  tlie  living  amongst  the 
dead?  He  is  not  here,  but  is  risen." — 
St.  Luke  xxiv :  5,  6. 


HE  term  Easter,  as  ii  sed  by  the  CliiiTch, 
is  from  the  old  Saxon  word  Oster,  sig- 
nifying "  to  rise :"  the  day  of  the 
Lord's  rising  from  the  dead. 

The  Church  has  always  celebrated 
this  great  festival  of  the  Resurrection  (and  uni- 
versally, on  the  same  day,  since  A.  D.  325)  as 
the  most  important  festival  of  the  year.  The 
joy,  the  glory,  tlie  triumph  of  this  day  lias 
been  her  song,  as  year  after  year,  since  ever 


80  THE    HOLY    DAYS. 

the  true  PascLai  Lamb  was  slain,  she  has  kept 
at  this  time  "  the  Lord's  Passover." 

Christ  is  risen !  In  despite  of  watch  and 
seal,  the  stone  is  rolled  away  from  the  sepnl^ 
chre ;  and  as  angels  brought  the  glad  tidings 
of  His  birth,  they  bring  also  the  glorious  news 
of  His  resurrection — pledge  of  our  own  rising 
from  the  dead.  Li  joyful  anthems  and  exult- 
ing hymns  the  Church  takes  up  the  strain, 
and  our  hearts  thrill  even  as  though,  with  the 
disciples,  we  beheld  again  "  the  linen  clothes 
lying ;"  and,  with  Mary,  heard  once  more  the 
voice  of  our  risen  Lord. 

Li  primitive  times,  rulers  released  prisoners 
on  this  day,  and  made  gifts  to  the  poor.  It 
was  a  day  for  the  general  exercise  of  mercy. 
Freedom  was  granted  slaves,  and  the  rulers 
gave  rich  banquets  to  the  people.  Hence  to 
this  day,  in  some  parts  of  the  country,  the 
Monday  following  is  a  holiday  with  our 
schools  and  servants. 

The  early  Christians  greeted  each  other  on 
Easter  morning  with  "Christ  is  risen;"  and 
were  answered  in  the  Latin  Church,  "He  is 
risen  indeed !"  or,  in  the  Greek  Church, 
"  And  hath  appeared  unto  Simon." 

"  Christ  our  Passover  is  sacrificed  for  us, 
therefore  let  us  keep  the  feast."      Oh,  with 


EASTER    DAY.  81 

what  love,  joy,  and  tliaukfulness  should  we 
keep  the  feast  which  typifies  to  ns  an  eternal 
Feast  in  His  promise,  "  where  there  shall  be 
no  more  death,  neither  sorrow  nor  crying!" 


■  ^?^HE  Lord  is  risen,  indeed ! 

mj  j      The  grave  hath  lost  its  prey; 

With  Him  shall  rise  the  ransom'd  seed, 
To  reign  in  endless  day. 

The  Lord  is  risen,  indeed! 

He  lives  to  die  no  more  ; 
He  lives  His  people's  cause  to  plead. 

Whose  curse  and  shame  He  bore. 

■  The  Lord  is  risen,  indeed ! 

Attendmg  angels,  hear ; 
Up  to  the  courts  of  Heaven  with  speed 
The  joyous  tidings  bear. 

■  Then  take  your  golden  lyres. 

And  strike  each  living  chord : 
Join  all  the  bright,  celestial  choirs, 
To  sing  our  risen  Lord !" 


82 


THE    HOLT    DAYS. 


SUiTDAYS  AFTEE  EASTEE, 


HEEE  are  five  Sundays  after  Easter, 
falling  within  the  great  forty  days  that 
come  between  our  Lord's  Eesurrection 
and  His  Ascension.  Between  His  ris- 
ing from  the  tomb  and  ascending  from 
Mount  Olivet  to  the  skies,  he  passed  forty 
days,  appearing  at  times  to  His  disciples,  and 
giving  them  those  instructions  which  should 
prepare  them  to  organize  His  Church,  and  go 
abroad  upon  their  missions  to  the  world. 


ST.    MAKE  S   DAT. 


ST.   MARK'S  DAY. 

(APRIL  25.) 

"And  He  gave  some  Apostles,  and 
some  Prophets,  and  some  Evangelists." — 
Ephesians  iv;  11. 


HE  name  Evangelist  is  from  the  Greek, 
and  means  "  a  mes- 
senger of  good  tid- 
ings,"  and    hence 
"a   writer   of  the 

gospel  or  good  news."     It 

was  at  first  given  to  all  that 

preached  the  Gospel,  but 

afterward  it  was  confined 

to   those  four  who  wrote 

the  history  of  our  Saviour's  life  and  teachings. 
St.  Mark  was  one  of  the  Evangelists.     He 

was   the   constant   companion   of    St.   Peter, 

wrote  his  Gospel  under  St.  Peter's  direction. 


84 


THE   HOLY   DATS. 


and  was  by  him  sent  into  Egypt,  where  he 
planted  the  Church  of  Alexandria,  and  where 
he  finally  sufiered  martyrdom,  being  seized 
by  the  heathen  while  engaged  in  the  services 
of  the  Chnrcli  at  Easter-tide,  and  dragged 
through  the  streets  till  he  died.  His  symbol 
is  a  lion ;  he  tells  us  of  Him  who  is  the  Lion 
of  the  tribe  of  Judah. 


NB  holy  men,  who  lived  with  our  deai 
Lord, 
Knew  all  His  love,  and  looked  on  all 
His  wo, 
By  God's  great  Spirit  moved,  for  us  have  poured 
The  words  He  spake,  the  deeds  He  wrought 
below; 
Cast  on  our  earthly  path  truth's  golden  ray. 
And  told  of  heavenly  joys,  and  showed  the  only 
way. 

"  We  round  our  happy  hearths,  in  quietness 
Pore  o'er  the  page,  and  ponder  the  sweet  strain, 

Mindful  of  them  who,  in  their  deep  distress. 
Evangelist,  and  saint,  and  martyr  train, 

Nursed  the  pure  flame  through  heathen  ages  dark. 

And  call  their  names  to  mind,  as  thine  to-day, 
Saint  Mark ! 


ST.   ATA-RK  S   DAT. 


85 


"  And  even  for  the  love  we  bear  that  Word, 
Those  honored  names  shall  fall  upon  our  ear 

With  a  sweet  grateful  sound ;  we  love  the  bird 
That  sang  the  strain  we  loved  at  twilight  clear, 

And  "  beautiful  their  feet,"  th'  inspired  band 

Who  poured  salvation's  strain  through  all  the 
darkened  land." 
8 


86 


THE   HOLY    DAYS. 


ST.  PHILIP  AND  ST.  JAMES. 

(MAY  1.) 

"  I  am  the  way,  and  tlie  truth,  and  the 
life :  no  man  cometh  unto  the  Father  but 
by  me." — John  xiv:    16. 

'HE  Church  celebrates  to-day  the  fes- 
tival of  two  apostles.  St.  Philip  was 
one  of  the  earliest  disciples  of  our 
Lord,  and  preached  after  the  ascension 
in  Upper  Asia,  where  he  made  many 
converts.  Toward  the  close  of  his  life  he 
came  to  Hierapolis  in  Phrygia,  a  great  city 
devoted  to  the  worship  of 
a  monstrous  serpent.  By 
his  prayers  and  preach- 
ings, he  succeeded  in  de- 
stroying this  hideous  idol- 
atry ;  but  the  magistrates 
were  so  enraged  at  his 
success  in  spreading  the 
Gospel  amongst  the  peo- 
ple, that  they  ordered  him  to  be  crucified. 


ST.    PHILIP    AND    ST.   JAlkrES.  O  < 

St.  James  is  called  the  hrother  of  our  Lord. 
Among  the  Hebrews,  cousins  were  counted 
brothers.  He  was  chosen  Bishop  of  Jerusa- 
lem, and  from  the  holiness  of  his  life  gained 
/the  title  of  St.  James  the  Just.  He  was  mar- 
jtyred  by  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  who  set 
'him  upon  a  pinnacle  of  the  temple  at  the 
feast  of  the  Passover,  hoping  to  compel  him 
to  renounce  Christ  in  the  sight  and  hearing 
of  all  the  multitude.  But  he  fearlessly  de- 
clared Him  to  be  the  Son  of  God ;  and  they, 
in  the  fury  of  disappointment,  threw  him 
down  from  the  high  place,  and  with  stones 
and  clubs  completed  his  destruction,  even 
while  he  prayed  for  them. 


"  ^j^HUS  with  Thee  are  linked  the  names 
(^  Of  St.  Philip  and  St.  James ; 

Thee  they  found  both  night  and  day, 
Precious  Truth,  and  guarded  Way ; 
And  in  the  last  martyr  strife, 
Thee,  O  Lord,  they  found  their  Life. 
Sure,  what  Thou  wast  to  them  of  yore. 
Unchangeable  Thou  art,  and  shalt  be  evermore.'* 


88  THE    HOLY  DAYS. 


eogatio:n^  days. 

'"  Ask,  and  it  shall  be  given  you."- 
St.  Matthew  vii :  7. 


OGATION  DAYS  are  the  Monday, 
Tuesday,  and  Wednesday  before  Ascen- 
sion. Their  name  signifies  supplication, 
and  they  have  been  kept  by  the  Church 
as  days  of  fasting  and  prayer  since  the 
middle  of  the  fifth  century.  At  that  time 
Mamercus,  Bishop  of  Yienne,  in  France,  fear- 
ing that  disasters  were  about  to  befall  his 
diocese,  appointed  these  days  to  be  observed 
with  litanies  and  penitence,  to  appease  the 
wrath  of  God,  and  turn  aside  His  judgments. 
The  design  in  observing  them  is  to  prepare 
us  for  the  feast  of  the  Ascension,  to  pray  for 
God's  mercy  to  protect  us  from  all  calamities, 
and  for  His  blessing  upon  the  fruits  of  the 
field. 


ORD,  in  Thy  name  Thy  servants  plead, 

fAnd  Thou  hast  sworn  to  hear ; 
Thine  is  the  harvest,  Thine  the  seed, 
The  fresh  and  fading  year. 


ROGATIOIf    DAYS. 


89 


The  former  and  the  latter  rain, 

The  summer  sun  and  air, 
The  green  ear  and  the  golden  grain. 

All  Thine,  are  ours  by  prayer. 

"  Thine  too,  by  right,  and  ours  by  grace, 

The  wondrous  growth  unseen. 
The  hopes  that  soothe,  the  fears  that  trace. 

The  love  that  shines  serene. 
So  grant  the  precious  things  brought  forth 

By  sun  and  moon  below. 
That  Thee  in  Thy  new  heaven  and  earth, 

We  never  may  forego." 

8* 


90  THE   HOLY    DAYS. 


THE  ASCENSION  DAY. 

(holy    THURSDAY.) 

"  And  it  came  to  pass  while  He  blessed 
them,  He  was  parted  from  them,  and  car- 
ried up  into  Heaven." — St.  Luke  xxiv:  51. 

^^^HE  last  day  of  our  Lord's  dwelling  on 
earth  lias  come.  For  forty  days  since 
His  resurrection  He  has  lingered  near, 
appearing  to  one  and  another,  *'bythe 
Y  wayside,"  and  "  as  they  sat  at  meat ," 
whenever  He  saw  that  sinking  courage  and 
wavering  faith  needed  His  divine  comfort  and 
strengthening.  But  now  the  appointed  time  is 
over;  the  last  day  has  come,  and  with  that 
parting  blessing — so  precious,  so  dear  forever ! 
— He  is  borne  up  and  away,  far  beyond  the 
longing  gaze  of  those  avIio  stand  straining  their 
eyes  to  behold  the  last  gleams  of  His  glory. 

With  joy  and  praise  the  Church  celebrates 
this  day  always,  for  now  is  our  hope  made 
sure  and  perfect.  The  ascension  of  Christ  is 
the  completion  of  his  sacrifice,  the  consumma- 
tion of  His  atonement,  the  fulfilment  of  11a 


THE    ASCENSION  DAY. 


91 


the  promises.  We  know  now  that  our  Lord 
has  "  gone  up  to  prepare  a  place  for  us,  that 
where  He  is,  thither  we  might  also  ascend  and 
reign  with  Him  in  glory."  And  oh,  what  man- 
ner of  lives  should  we  lead  in  such  an  anticipa- 


tion !     How  should  we  watch,  and  pray,  and 
hope,  and  wait,   for  the  day  when  He  shall 
come  again  and  receive  us  unto  Himself! 
Let  us  pmy  that  "we  may  also  in  heart 


92 


THE    HOLY  DAYS. 


and  mind  thither  ascend,  and  with  Him  con- 
tinually dwell,"  even  in  this  our  earthly 
home ;  so  that  each  and  all  of  us  may  stand 
ready  and  waiting  when  the  message  comes 
that  "  the  Master  hath  need  of  us." 


'  ^p'HE  Saviour  stood  at  Olivet, 
(Ijlh     His  earthly  task  was  o'er ; 
^^"^  And  wherefore  should  He  linger  yet 
On  this  world's  dreary  shore  ? 
He  raised  on  high  His  hands  divine, 

He  blessed  His  faithful  train ; 
Oh,  when  shall  Adam's  guilty  line 
Such  blessing  hear  again  ? 

Then  slowly  tow'rd  the  expecting  sky, 

The  sky's  Creator  rose  ; 
Angelic  watchers,  ranged  on  high, 

Bade  Heaven's  bright  gates  unclose  ; 
And  in  He  came,  the  Lord  of  Might, 

Eternal  and  supreme. 
Whose  presence  e'en  those  worlds  of  light 

Illumed  with  brighter  beam. 

Oh,  Thou  who  thus  exalted  art, 

On  whom  our  souls  rely. 
Grant  to  us  now  in  mind  and  heart, 

To  dwell  with  Thee  on  high ! 


THE   ASCENSION  DAY. 


93 


And  when  at  length,  redeemed  by  Thee, 
The  just  that  sleep  shall  rise, 

With  theirs  our  hajDpy  portion  be, 
A  home  beyond  the  skies." 


94: 


THE   HOLY   DAYS. 


WHITSU]^-DAY. 

"  And  tliere  appeared  unto  tliem  cloven 
tongues,  like  as  of  iire,  and  it  sat  upon 
each  of  them." — Acts  ii:  3. 


HIS  festival  commemorates  the  coming 

of  "■  the  Comforter, 

which  is  the  Holy 

Ghost,"   j)i'omised 

by  om*  Saviour  to 
His  disciples,  and  waited 
for  by  them  with  such  eager 
hope  and  expectation.  It 
took  place  on  the  Jewish  feast  of  Pentecost, 
the  anniversary  of  the  giving  of  the  law  at 
Mount  Sinai.  A  rushing,  mighty  wind  filled 
all  the  house  where  they  were  assembled, 
cloven  tongues  of  fire  rested  u^^on  them,  and 
they  were  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  so 
that  they  were  enabled  to  speak  in  all  lan- 
guages ;  and  the  great  multitude  present 
there  from  all  countries  heard,  each  in  his 
native  tongue,  the  wonderful  works  of  God. 


WHITSUN-DAY.  96 

Not  visibly,  not  witli  a  rushing  wind  or 
tongues  of  fire  does  the  Holj  Sj^irit  descend 
upon  ns  now  when  we  gather  together  in  the 
temple  of  the  Lord.  Yet  is  He  present  with 
US  still,  though  unseen,  at  the  font,  or  in  the 
laying  on  of  hands,  in  prayer  or  sacred  medi- 
tation, hovering  above  us  with  gifts  of  com- 
fort and  wisdom,  ready  to  enter  into  every 
heart  that  will  open  to  receive  Him.  Let  us 
then  keep  this  blessed  feast  of  the  Church 
with  love,  and  faith,  and  special  prayer,  that 
we  may  never  grieve  or  resist  the  Holy  Spirit 
of  God,  but  that  our  whole  lives  may  prove  His 
presence  in  our  hearts. 

The  name  Whitsun-day  may  be  derived 
from  Pentecost.  The  festival,  like  Easter,  in- 
cludes also  the  Monday  and  Tuesday  follow- 
ing, that  we  may  more  fully  understand  its 
great  imj)ortance,  and  enter  more  heartily 
into  the  true  spirit  of  its  observance. 

"(^/Y<^HEN  God  of  old  came  down  from  heaven, 
Li  power  and  wrath  He  came ; 
Before  His  feet  the  clouds  were  riven, 
Half  darkness  and  half  flame : 
Aromid  the  trembhng  mountain's  base 

The  j^rostrate  people  lay  ; 
A  day  of  wrath  and  not  of  grace, 
A  dim  and  dreadful  day. 


96 


THE    HOLY   DAYS. 


"  But  when  He  came  the  second  time, 

He  came  m  power  and  love, 
Softer  than  gale  at  morning  prime 

Hover'd  His  holy  Dove. 
The  fires  that  rushed  on  Sinai  down, 

In  sudden  torrents  dread, 
Now  gently  light,  a  glorious  crown 

On  every  sainted  head." 


TKLNITY   SUNDAY. 


9T 


TKmiTY  SUNDAY. 

"Thou  art  wortliy,  O  Lord,  to  receive 
glory,  and  honor,  and  power ;  for  Thou 
hast  created  all  things." — Revelation  iv :  2. 

HE  observance  of  Trinity  Sunday  is  of 
more  recent  origin 
than  that  of  the 
otlier  important  fes- 
tivals. The  ancient 
Church  thought  it  unnec- 
essary to  set  apart  a  spe- 
cial day  for  the  praises  that 
were  celebrated  every  day 
in  the  hymns,  creeds,  and  doxology.  But  in 
consequence  of  the  Arian  and  other  heresies — 
that  is,  the  unbelief  of  Arius  and  his  followers, 
who  denied  this  mystery  of  the  Trinity— the 
Church  thought  proper  to  order  a  particular 
day  for  its  solemn  commemoration.  And  this 
day  was  preferred  to  any  other,  because  it  was 
not  until  after  the  Ascension  and  the  coming 
ot  the  Holy  Ghost,  that  our  knowledge  of  the 
divine  mysteries  was  completed. 
9 


98  THE    HOLY    DAYS. 

It  is  the  proper  culmination  of  all  the  great 
festivals  of  the  year.  The  Church  having 
celebrated  the  Birth  and  Manifestation,  the 
Resurrection  and  Ascension  of  our  Saviour, 
and  the  descent  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  concludes 
them  all  with  a  special  service  in  honor  of  the 
''  Holy,  blessed,  and  glorious  Trinity,  three 
persons  and  one  God,"  by  whom  we  were 
created,  redeemed,  and  sanctified,  and  who 
is  the  centre  of  all  our  faith,  hope,  and  love. 

The  design  of  the  Church,  in  the  Sundays 
after  Trinity,  is  to  instruct  us  in  the  duties  and 
advance  us  in  the  graces  of  the  Christian  life. 
As  in  the  earlier  part  of  the  year  we  were 
"  rooted  and  grounded"  in  the  great  doctrines 
of  our  faith,  we  are  now  taught  to  put  them 
into  practice  in  our  daily  life.  Let  us  ask  of 
Him  who  only  can  give  it,  "the  spirit  to  think 
and  do  always  such  things  as  are  right,"  that 
with  a  quiet  mind  and  peaceful  heart  we  may 
go  through  the  changing  year  until  Advent 
comes  again. 


100  THE   HOLY    DAYS. 

[>EAD  US !  Heavenly  FATHER,  lead  us 
O'er  the  world's  tempestuous  sea  ; 
Guide  us,  guard  us,  keep  us,  feed  us, 
For  we  have  no  help  but  Thee ; 
Yet  possessing  every  blessing, 
If  our  GOD  our  FATHER  be. 

"  SAVIOUR,  breathe  forgiveness  o'er  us, 
All  our  weakness  THOU  dost  know ; 

Thou  didst  tread  the  earth  before  us, 
Thou  didst  feel  its  keenest  wo  : 

Lone  and  dreary,  faint  and  weary, 
Through  the  desert  THOU  didst  go. 

*'  SPIRIT  of  our  GOD  descending. 
Fill  our  hearts  with  heavenly  joy ; 
Love  with  every  feeling  blending 
Pleasures  that  can  never  cloy  : 
Thus  provided,  pardoned,  guided, 
"  Nothing  can  our  peace  destroy." 


SUNDAY    AFTEi:    TKtNITY 


101 


SUNDAYS   AFTEE  TEINITY. 


fN  the  first  half  of  the  Church  year,  the 
Sundays  take  their  character  from  some 
f  special  events  relating  to  the  birth,  life, 
deeds,  death,  resurrection,  and  ascension 
of  our  blessed  Lord.  On  Pentecost,  or 
Whitsun-day,  His  Holy  Spirit  descends  to 
guide  His  Church  into  all  truth ;  and  on 
Trinity  Sunday,  the  great  doctrine  of  three 
persons  in  one  Godhead  is  set  forth.  Then 
we  enter  on  a  new  phase  of  the  religious  year, 
and  through  the  Sundays  after  Trinity,  les- 
sons of  duty  engage  our  attention,  and  we  are 
moved  by  the  sublime  precepts  of  our  Master, 
to  cultivate  the  graces  of  the  Christian  life. 
9^^  I 


102 


THE   HOLY   DAYS. 


ST.  BAKKABAS'  DAY. 

(JUNE    11.) 

"The  son  of  consolation,  a  Levite." — 
Acts  iv:  36. 

r^^'HE   proper    name   of   this   saint   was 

Joses ;  bnt  the  surname 

Barnahas,  wliich  means 

"  son  of    consolation," 

was  given  him  by  the 
Apostles  for  his  prophetic  gifts, 
his  skill  in  comforting  the 
troubled  conscience,  or  on  ac- 
count of  his  kindness  and  char- 
ity to  the  poor.  He  is  sup- 
loosed  to  be  one  of  the  seventy  disciples  chosen 
by  our  Saviour,  and  he  proved  his  love  and 
zeal  in  Jesus'  service  by  selling  all  his  lands, 
and  giving  the  money  entirely  to  the  poor. 
He  was  of  the  tribe  of  Levi,  and  is  called  by 
St.  Luke  and  early  fathers  an  Apostle  himself. 
He  first  introduced  St.  Paul,  after  his  con- 
version, to  the  Apostles,  and  convinced  them 
of  its  sincerity ;  and  he  afterward  was  a  com- 


ST.   BAKNABAS'   DAY.  103 

panion  and  co-laborer  with  St.  Paul  in  many 
places.  He  suffered  martyrdom  at  Salamis,  a 
city  in  liis  native  island  of  Cyprus,  being 
stoned  to  death  by  the  Jews.  St.  Barnabas 
has  left  behind  him  an  epistle  addressed  to 
Jewish  converts. 

"   ^i^  Judas  here,  or  Demas  there, 

^1     Shadowed  the  Church  with  shame, 
Cl3  And  left  the  stain  of  love  of  gain 
Upon  the  Chriscian  name  : 

"  If  Anauias  and  his  wife 

Kept  back  the  price  and  lied ; 
St.  Barnabas,  through  Thy  great  grace, 
More  than  their  lack  supplied. 

"  In  nature  and  iu  name  alike, 

True  to  Thy  Church  and  Thee ; 
The  Son  of  Consolation  called. 
And  rightly  named  was  he." 


104 


THE    HOLY    DAYS. 


KATIYITY  OF  ST.   JOHN  THE 
BAPTIST. 

(JUNE    24.) 

"Many  sliall  rejoice   at  Ms  birth."- 
St.  Luke  i:  14. 


in   commemorating 


her 


HE  Churcli 
saints  usually  cele- 
brates the  day  of 
their  death,  because 
it  was  in  their 
deaths  that  they  glorified 
their  Master.  But  in  the 
case  of  St.  John  the  Baptist 
she  departs  from  the  rule, 
because  his  birth,  like  that 
of  our  Lord,  was  not  only  wonderful  in  itself 
but  the  occasion  of  great  rejoicing  to  those 
who  looked  for  the  coming  of  the  Messiah. 

It  was  declared  by  the  angel  who  foretold 
his  birth  to  his  father,  that  he  should  be  the 
messenger  to  prepare  the  way  of  the  Lord, 
and  turn  the  hearts  of  the  people  to  Him; 


NATIVITY    OF    ST.  JOHN    THE    BAPTIST.       105 

and  we  know  tliat  by  his  lioly  life  and  earnest 
preaching,  he  converted  ninltitudes  of  the 
Jews,  and  prepared  them  for  the  near  ap- 
proach of  our  Saviour. 

He  is  called  the  Baptist,  because  he  bap 
tized  all  his  converts,  and  had  the  honor, 
moreover,  of  baj)tizing  our  Lord  Himself. 
The  Church  exhorts  her  children  to  "repent 
truly,  according  to  his  preaching,"  to  imitate 
his  holy  life,  and  to  follow  his  example  of 
boldly  speaking  the  truth,  and  patiently  suf- 
fering for  its  sake. 


^. 'HIS  day  the  Church  commemorates 
Jlj     The  birth-day  of  St.  John; 

Except  our  Lord's  Nativity, 
She  keeps  this  only  one. 

Be  this  its  holy  use,  to  make 

The  birth-days  of  each  year, 
Tho'  dear  for  all  their  human  joy, 

As  helps  to  Heaven  most  dear. 

The  Baptist's  pure  and  holy  life, 

Severe  from  early  youth, 
His  bold  rebuke  of  haughty  vice, 

His  patience  for  the  truth, 


106 


THE    HOLY    DAYS. 


"  His  preparation  of  Thy  way, 
His  living  in  Thy  love, 
His  brief,  but  hard  and  toilsome  day, 
His  early  rest  above  ; 

"  Be  these  our  birth-day  monitors. 
Our  souls  for  Heaven  to  train. 
Teaching  us  how  '  to  live  is  Christ,' 
And  how  '  to  die  is  gain.' " 


ST.  PETER  S   DAT. 


lo: 


ST.  PETER'S  DAT. 

(JUNE  29) 

"Lord,   Thou   knowest    that    I    love 
Thee." — John  xxi.  15. 


[P^E  commemorate 
1)  to-day  the  mar- 
tyrdom of  St. 
Peter,  a  prince 
of  the  apostles, 
brother  of  St. 
Andrew.  He  was  a  fish- 
erman of  Galilee,  but, 
at  our  Saviour's  com- 
mand, left  his  employ- 
ment and  followed  Him ; 
and  thenceforth  was  one 
of  His  most  devoted  dis- 
ciples. In  a  moment 
of  weakness  and  great 
temptation,  he  denied 
his  Master ;  but  he  re- 
pented bitterly,  and 
spent  all  the  rest  of 
his  life  in  most  earnest 
and  self-sacrificing   ser- 


108  THE    HOLY    DAYS. 

vice;  preaching  in  Samaria,  Antioch,  Asia, 
and  elsewhere,  and  bringing  many  thousands 
of  the  Saviour's  wandering  "  sheep"  into  the 
fold  of  the  true  Shepherd.  It  is  said  that  he 
was  put  to  death  at  Kome,  and  chose  to  be 
crucified  with  his  head  downward,  because  he 
thought  himself  unworthy  to  die  in  the  same 
position  in  which  his  Master  suffered.  One 
of  St.  Peter's  symbols,  the  cock  that  crowed, 
has  been  sometimes  placed  on  steeples,  a 
warning  to  unfaithful  teachers,  lest  they  deny 
their  Lord.  He  is  usually  represented  with 
keys  in  his  hand,  as  it  was  said  to  him,  "  Unto 
thee  will  I  give  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of 
Heaven." 


"  (M>^I^I^5  Thou  knowest  that  I  love  Thee, 
Whom  have  I  in  Heaven  but  Thee  ? 
None  on  earth  I  prize  above  Thee, 
Oh,  be  gracious  unto  me. 
Henceforth  all  my  life's  devotion, 
I  shall  deem  too  poor  to  prove 
With  what  trembHng,  fond  emotion 

I  repent,  and  trust,  and  love : 
Thankful  even  if  my  falhng 

May  to  others  warning  be, 
And  my  gentle,  kind  recalling 

Draw  some  wand'rer  back  to  Thee." 


DAY.  109 


ST.  JAMES'  DAY. 


(JULY  25.) 


"  And  lie  killed  James  the  brother  of 
Jokn  witli  tlie  sword."— Acts  xii :  2. 

HE  Chiircli  calls  iis  to-day  to  observe 

the   example   of    St. 

James,   who  left  his 

father  and  all  he  had, 

to  follow  Jesns.  He 
is  called  James  the  Great, 
either  because  he  was  older 
than  James  the  Less,  or 
greatly  honored  by  our  Lord, 
being  one  of  His  three  favored  friends.  St. 
James  was  a  Galilean,  a  fisherman,  and  a 
brother  of  St.  John  the  Evangelist.  St.  John 
and  he  were  called,  by  our  Saviour,  Boanerges, 
or  "  sons  of  thunder,"  in  token  of  the  force 
and  vehemence  with  which  they  should  preach 
the  Gospel,  and  rouse  the  nations  as  it  were 
by  a  voice  of  thunder.  His  ministry  was 
confined  to  Judea ;  and — ^first  martyr  among 
10 


110  THE    HOLY   DATS. 

the  apostles — ^he  was  beheaded  at  Jerusalem 
by  the  order  of  Herod,  who  had  just  begun 
his  reign,  and  thought  by  this  act  to  make 
himself  popular  with  the  Jews. 


"  ^f  ^^  brothers  freely  cast  their  lot 
(u\)      With  David's  royal  Son ; 

The  cost  of  conquest  counting  not, 
They  deem  the  battle  won. 
Brothers  in  heart,  they  hope  to  gain 

An  undivided  joy. 
That  man  may  one  with  man  remain, 
As  boy  was  one  with  boy. 

"  Christ  heard,  and  willed  that  James  should  fall, 

First  prey  of  Satan's  rage  ; 
John  linger  out  his  fellows  all, 

And  die  in  bloodless  age. 
They  rest  to  meet  once  more  above, 

Before  the  Conqueror's  throne : 
Thus  God  grants  prayer,  but  in  His  love 

Makes  times  and  ways  His  own." 


ST.  BARTHOLOMEW  S   DAY. 


Ill 


ST.  BAKTHOLOMEWS  DAY. 

(AUGUST  24.) 

"  When  thou  wast  under  the  fig-tree,  I 

saw  thee." — John  i:  58. 

BAETHOLOMEW  was  one  of 
twelve  apostles,  and  is 
generally  believed  to 
be  identical  with  that 
IN^athanael  whom  Jesus 
■nnder  the  fig-tree,"  be- 
mortal  eyes  could  have 
discerned  him,  and  of  whom 
He  said,  "  Beliold  an  Israelite 
indeed,  in  whom  is  no  guile." 

He  preached  the  Grospel  in  Arabia  Felix 
and  India,  travelled  through  Asia,  and  finally 
settled  in  a  city  of  Armenia ;  where  he  was 
most  cruelly  martyred  by  the  idolatrous  peo- 
ple whom  he  had  tried  to  turn  to  the  faith  of 
Christ — flayed  alive,  it  is  said,  by  order  of 
Astyages,  the  king.  Let  us  try  to  imitate  the 
example  of  his  ready  faith  and  patient  obe- 


112  THE   HOLY  DAYS. 

clience,  that  we  may  be  "  faithful  over  a  few 
things,"  and,  with  him,  hereafter  "  enter  into 
the  joy  of  our  Lord." 

IDDEN  close  from  human  eye, 

f  Violets  do  love  to  lie. 
Only  for  the  tell-tale  air, 
No  one  could  discover  where : 
\Bnt  there's  an  Eye  which  on  them  dwells, 
With  sunshine  soft  and  true, 
A  Hand  which  fills  their  purple  bells 
With  drops  of  morning  dew. 

"  So  beneath  the  fig-tree's  shade. 

Where  of  old  Nathanael  paid 

To  the  Lord  his  hidden  vows  ; 

Through  its  broad  and  verdant  boughs, 
Upon  the  saint's  lone  hour  of  need 

Fell  Heaven's  approving  smile. 
And  owned  an  Israelite  indeed, 

In  whom  there  was  no  guile. 

"  Thence  the  man  unknown  and  lowly. 

Set  apart  by  God,  and  holy. 

Changed  in  office  and  in  name, 

St.  Bartholomew  became ; 
And  on  his  day,  the  Church  doth  pray. 

Of  God,  in  Jesus'  name, 
'  To  love  that  word  which  he  believed, 

Preach,  and  receive  the  same.'  " 


ST.  MATTHEW  S  DAY. 


113 


ST.   MATTHEWS   DAY. 

(SEPTEMBER  21.) 

"And  lie  arose  and  followed  Him."- 
St.  Matthew  ix :  9. 


HE  example  of  St.  Matthew  teaches  us 
to  prefer  the  ser- 

^  "^    earthly  gahi  and 


f 


advantage.  He 
was  a  tax-gatherer,  "  sit- 
ting at  the  receipt  of 
cnstom ;"  hut  when  Je- 
sus called  him,  he  left 
his  employment  at  a 
word,  giving  up  with  it  all  his  prospects  of 
future  wealth,  and  henceforth  followed  the 
Lord. 

He  wi'ote  the  Gospel  that  bears  his  name, 
and  preached  in  Judea  for  about  eight  years  ; 
after  which  he  went  into  Parthia  and  Ethio- 
pia, and  was  probably  martyred  there,  though 
the  manner  of  his  death  has  not  been  recorded. 
His  symbol  is  a  man  or  angel :  he  tells  us  of 
our  Saviour's  genealogy  and  human  nature. 
10* 


lU 


THE    HOLY    DATS. 


^ROM  fisher's  net,  from  fig-tree's  shade, 

God  gathers  whom  He  will ; 
'Touched  by  His  grace  all  men  are  made 
His  purpose  to  fulfil. 
So  Matthew  left  his  golden  gains 

At  the  great  Master's  call ; 
His  soul  the  love  of  Christ  constrains 
Freely  to  give  up  all. 


"  O,  Saviour !  when  prosperity 

Makes  this  world  hard  to  leave, 
And  all  its  j)omps  and  vanity 

Their  meshes  round  us  weave ; 
Then  grant  us  grace,  that  to  Thy  call 

We  may  obedient  be, 
And,  cheerfully  forsaking  all. 

May  follow  only  Thee." 


ST.    MICHAEL    AND    ALL   ANGELS. 


115 


ST.  MICHAEL  AND  ALL  AJS^GELS. 

(SEPTEMBER  29.) 

"  Are  they  not  all  ministering  spirits, 
sent  fortli  to  minister  for  tliem  wlio  sliall 
be  heirs  of  salvation?" — Hebrews  i:  14. 

'HE  Church  keeps  this  feast  that  we 
may  express  our  thankfulness  for  God's 
loving  care  and  kindness  in  sending 
forth  guardian  angels  to  minister  to 
His  children.  Tliey  do  not  appear  to 
us  now  in  visible  presence,  as  in  the  early 
days  when  they  were  so  often  God's  messen- 


116 


THE    HOLY   DAYS. 


gers  to  men ;  but  we  cannot  doubt  that  thej 
are  about  us  still,  unseen  and  unheard,  yet 
ever  watchful  to  shield  us  from  danger,  com- 
fort us  in  trouble,  and  strengthen  us  against 
temptation. 

Of  little  children  especially,  we  are  told 
that  "  their  angels"  always  behold  the  face  of 
the  Father ;  and  who  can  tell  what  perils  and 
troubles  the  heedless  feet  of  the  young  might 
stray  into,  were  it  not  for  the  constant  watch 
and  ward  of  these  "  ministering  spirits  ?" 
Children,  then,  should  love  this  festival,  and 
learn  from  it  not  only  to  be  thankful  for  the 
holy  and  blessed  guardianship  of  angels,  but 
to  remember  that  they  are  always  in  the  pres- 
ence of  those  pure  and  gentle  creatures,  and 
try  to  be  like  them  in  gentleness  and  purity ; 
driving  away  evil  thoughts,  refraining  from 
angry  words  and  sinful  acts,  and  ever  ready 
to  do  kind  things  for  others. 

Among  the  choirs  and  orders  of  angels,  St. 
Michael  is  an  arch-angel,  that  is  over  one  of  pe- 
culiar power  and  dignity,  having  an  army  of 
angels  under  his  command,  and  is  frequently 
mentioned  in  Scripture  as  coming  to  the  help 
of  God's  servants.  He  is  held  as  the  cham- 
pion of  the  Church,  watching  its  welfare  and 
defeating  the  dragon,  the  Devil. 


ST.  MICHAEL   AND   ALL   ANGELS.  117 

(^}|'N  our  journeyings,  in  our  restings,  on  the 
1  land  or  on  the  sea, 

In  our  sohtude  and  sorrow,  in  our  gather- 
ings and  glee, 
In  the  day  of  degradation,  in  the  hour  of  joy 

and  pride, 
Those  pure  and  watchful  ministers  are  ever  by 

our  side ; 
Sweet  messengers  of  love  and  hope,  they  journey 

to  and  fro. 
And   consolation  follows   in   their   footsteps    as 

they  go. 
O    Thou,  whom  angels  worshipped  ere  time  or 

wo  began. 
And  whose  divine  compassion  gave  their  guar- 
dianship to  man. 
Throughout  this  mortal  warfare  let  them  still  my 

champions  be, 
And  in  the  last  stern  conflict,  '  give  them  charge 

concerning  me!"' 


118 


THE   HOLT  DAYS. 


ST.  LUKE  THE  EYAKGELIST. 

(OCTOBER  18.) 

"  Luke,  tlie    beloved  physician." — Co- 
LOSsixiNS  iv:  14. 


T.  LUKE  was  born  in  Antioch,  a 
famons  for  learn- 
ing   and    wealth, 


city 


but  more  honored 

for  the  fact  that 
here  the  disciples  of  Jesus 
were  first  called  Chris- 
tians. His  peculiar  pro- 
fession was  that  of  physic, 
but  it  is  said  that  he  was  also  skilful  in  paint- 
ing, and  there  are  j)ictures  still  in  existence 
that  some  claim  to  have  been  drawn  by  him. 
He  was  probably  converted  by  St.  Paul,  dur- 
ing his  abode  at  Antioch ;  for  after  his  con- 
version, he  became  St.  Paul's  inseparable  com- 
panion, sharing  all  his  labors  and  all  his  dan- 
gers, even  when  others  forsook  him,  and  never 
leaving  him  till  his  death. 


ST.  LUKE   THE    EVANGELIST.  IIV^ 

He  wrote  the  Gospel  wliicli  bears  liis  name 
during  liis  travels  with  St.  Paul  in  Achaia, 
and  liis  history  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles 
during  St.  Paul's  two  years  of  imprisonment. 
It  is  not  certainly  known  where  or  how  he 
died,  though  some  historians  affirm  that  he 
preached  tlie  Gospel  successfully  in  Egypt 
and  Greece,  until  a  party  of  infidels,  getting 
him  into  their  power,  hanged  him  upon  an 
olive  tree.  His  symbol  is  a  calf  or  ox,  for 
Jesus  was  a  saciifice,  and  his  Gospel  sets  forth 
our  Lord  most  plainly  as  both  Priest  and 
Victim. 


H,  God !  on  such  a  day  as  this, 

Let  us  with  special  prayer 
All  those  who  heal  throughout  our  land 
Commend  to  Thy  good  care. 


"  And  make  them  hallowed  means  of  good 
In  all  they  think  and  do, 
While  truthful  to  their  heahng  art, 
Not  imto  Thee  less  true. 

"  Physicians  of  the  body  they — 
By  grace's  soft  control. 
May  they  become,  like  good  St.  Luke, 
Physicians  of  the  soul !" 


120 


THE   HOLY   DAYS. 


ST.  SIMON  AND  ST.  JUDE. 

(OCTOBER  28.) 

"  Jude,  tlie  servant  of  Jesus  Clirist." — 
St.  Jude  i:  1. 


T.  SIMOK  and  St.  Jude  were  both 
apostles.  The  first 
is  also  called  Si- 
mon Zelotes,  and 
the  Canaanite,  to 
distinguish  him  from 
Simon  Peter.  He  preach- 
ed the  G-ospel  in  Egypt 
and  Africa,  and  after- 
ward in  Britain,  where, 
as  some  say,  he  was  crucified.  But  others 
state  that  he  died  in  Persia,  by  the  hands  of 
idolatrous  priests,  and  that  he  was  sawn 
asunder. 

St.  Jude  is  reckoned  among  the  brethren 
of  our  Lord,  being  the  son  of  Joseph  and 
brother  of  James;  but  in  his  humility  he 
calls  himself  only    "  the    servant    of   Jesus 


^--'H.^J^ 


ST.    SIMON    AND    ST.    JUDE.  121 

Christ."  He  is  called  in  Scripture  Lebb(JBits, 
expressive  of  prudence  and  understanding, 
and  also  Thaddeus^  to  denote  one  zealous  in 
God's  praise.  He  preached  in  Judea  and 
Galilee,  and  has  left  one  epistle.  It  is  be- 
lieved that  he  was  put  to  death  in  Persia  by 
the  Magi. 


H,  warm,  devoted  men  were  ye, 
And  zealous  for  your  Lord — 
Dispensiug  wide  with  fervency, 
The  pure,  life-giving  word ! 

"  Your  various  names  the  truth  attest 
That  ye  were  filled  with  zeal — 
Men  that  could  neither  pause  nor  rest 
Till  ye  made  others  feel. 

"  Fond  history  loves  the  tale  to  tell 

That  ye  together  strove, 
Together  bade  this  world  farewell, 

To  wait  your  crowns  above." 
11 


122 


THE   HOLY   DATS. 


ALL  SAINTS'  DAY. 

(NOVEMBER  1.) 

"Here   are   they  tliat   keep  tlie  com- 
mandments  of  God,   and  tlie   faitli   of 

Jesus.  — Revelation  xiv:  12, 

^^^HE  design  of  the  Church  in  appointing 
this  festival  is  chiefly  to  honor  God  in 
the  holy  example  of  His  saints,  and 
also  to  encourage  us  who  remain  yet 
f      upon  the   battle-ground,  to  fight  the 
same  "  good  fight  of  faith."     As  she  cannot 
assign  a  special  day  for  every  saint  and  mar- 
tyr, she  here  includes  them  all  in  one  common 


123 

festival.  She  inculcates,  too,  at  this  time,  the 
important  doctrine  of  the  "communion  of 
saints,"  reminding  us  that  all  true  Christians 
are  "fellow-citizens  witli  the  saints,  and  of 
the  household  of  God,"  of  the  same  family 
with  those  in  Paradise.  Therefore,  as  we 
thank  God  for  their  good  example  and  their 
labors  of  love,  so  we  cannot  doubt  that  they 
rejoice  in  our  conversion,  and  praj  that  we 
may  also  enter  into  their  unspeakable  joy. 

Oh,  let  us  then  run  with  patience  this  race 
that  is  set  before  us,  following  in  the  footsteps 
of  those  who  have  "  kept  the  commandments 
of  God,  and  the  faith  of  Jesus,"  that  at  the 
end  we  also  may  stand  before  the  Lamb,  and 
join  in  their  glorious  song — 

"Blessing,  and  glory,  and  wisdom,  and 
thanksgiving,  and  honor,  and  power,  and 
might,  be  unto  our  God  forever  and  ever! 
Amen." 

"  ^fHESE  thi'ough  fiery  trials  trod ; 

These  from  great  affliction  came ; 
Now  before  the  throne  of  God, 
Sealed  with  His  eternal  name  : 
Clad  in  raiment  pure  and  white, 

Victor  palms  in  every  hand, 
Through  their  great  Redeemer's  might. 
More  than  conquerors  they  stand. 


124 


THE    HOLY   DAYS. 


"  Hunger,  thirst,  disease  unknown, 

On  immortal  fruits  they  feed  ; 
Them  the  Lamb  amidst  the  throne 

Shall  to  living  fountains  lead  : 
Joy  and  gladness  banish  sighs, 

Perfect  love  dispels  their  fears  ; 
And  forever  from  their  eyes 

God  shall  wipe  away  their  tears." 


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